Trump confounds his critics and friends. Maybe he confounds you. But you can understand a lot about Trump if you follow my friend’s advice.
John is a big-time corporate head hunter. He finds people to fill jobs that pay multi-millions. He gets paid only if he finds the perfect executives. When they flop he loses much of his fee. So he is careful in his work.
“Ignore most of what a job candidate promises,” is his advice. “But focus, utterly focus on what he or she has done. His or her past reveals the likely future.”
This is the secret if you wish to understand Trump. Focus on what he did as a developer.
Consider the critics. The commentators. Bureaucrats. Diplomats. World leaders. Politicians. The multitude he confounds and confuses. Few of them have worked in business. Fewer have owned a business. Virtually none have signed paychecks for armies of workers. Few, if any, have negotiated as developers must every day. Few even understand what a developer is and does.
A good developer dreams. You see a swamp. He dreams of a shopping mall. You see sand and water. He dreams of a resort and golf course. You see wasteland. He dreams of a housing development.
A good developer imagines what others cannot. What others scurry from as risks ,he sees and seizes as opportunities. He brims with confidence when others bog down in fear.
A good developer negotiates endlessly. Haggling is the lifeblood of his business. He must push and shove, cajole, persuade, pressure, compromise, flex. With zoning overlords. With politicians. With lawyers galore. With sellers and unions. With contractors and suppliers. And inspectors. With bankers, investors and tenants.
Is it any wonder great developers are great persuaders? They must persuade to survive. Is it any wonder Trump negotiates totally differently than Hillary, Obama, Kerry and previous presidents? His history is as different from theirs as steel from marshmallow.
Is it any wonder Trump created a video for North Korea’s Kim and crew to view in Singapore? A video! Most critics ignored it or downplayed it. A few scoffed at it. This is because they know so little of business. And they know nothing of how developers persuade.
The video projected the dream of prosperity for Kim’s country. It imagined resorts on the sands where Kim launches missiles. It urged Kim to dream of a wealth of goods to replace the poverty his people suffer. It portrayed high-speed trains and skylines of handsome buildings. (Watch the video. Google “White House Film for Kim.”)
Leading up to this, Trump rattled sabers. He lined up support from China, South Korea, Japan and other neighbors. He invoked sanctions and threatened more. He displayed our military might. And made clear we would use it if Kim continued to play idiot.
This is how a developer would approach the politicians of a big city. “Let us dream together of turning your unused railyards into a shopping mecca. Imagine this swampy area as the future home of a sports arena. We have lined up support throughout your city. However, if this does not win your favor we don’t need to be here. Philadelphia is begging us to come. So is Baltimore.”
Does this sound like the approach Obama, Clinton and Kerry took with Iran? They negotiated a flimsy agreement. They wrote checks for countless billions. They were rolled. They thought they had persuaded Iran to change the nuclear future of the country. Right. They did little more than persuade Iran to take a planeload of cash.
A good developer has many tricks of persuasion up his sleeve. Trump does. Many of them will confound critics, diplomats and bureaucrats in the future. Because they do not understand business. They are ignorant of how developers think and work. They peer through lenses crafted from their own experiences. Experiences so different from Trump’s.
The secret to understanding much of what Trump does now is to know what he did, as a developer. His past achievements will likely be reflected in his future.
Critics reading this will howl that some of his past projects failed. They did. A mighty small percentage of them. Better to look at what he did in their wake.
From Tom…as in Morgan.
Find Tom on Facebook. You can write to Tom at tomasinmorgan@yahoo.com.