Why Donald J. Trump Is Not Good As A Business Role Model

Most students look for good role models in their career, so they can mimic or get some new inspiration that will help them in the future. If you are a business student do not have Donald J. Trump as a business role model. A role model is an individual who is looked up to and revered by someone else. A role model is someone who other individuals aspire to be like, either in the present or in the future. If you are looking to be a con-artist, Donald Trump is the ideal role model but if you want to succeed in business, find yourself another role model that will actually inspire you to be the best in business and not just teach you to become just a name. What is interesting is that before being seduced by the world of business, what attracted Donald Trump was Broadway. In 1968, fresh out of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in economics wanted to be a theater producer. Fan of Broadway works, Trump offered producer David Black to finance "Paris Is Out!" In exchange for teaching him the secrets of theater production. "He had an attraction for the entertainment business and he liked to put his name on something other than real estate," Black told the Times magazine years later. The work was a failure and that's where, the tycoon's incursion into the entertainment business ended. But for Michael Antonio, writer of a biography of Trump, showed that Trump was a showman from the beginning. That is the main theme of this essay, that Donald Trump is nothing other than a showman.

The magnate then chose to concentrate on the business of the estate of his family and there he got his fortune. But, what made Donald Trump the most recognized billionaire in the United States was a heterogeneous combination of business, film and television appearances and, a huge amount of 'brand merchandising' under his surname. As Antonio would say, if Donald Trump knows anything, it is to position his own brand and take advantage of it financially.

About his capacity for business, which the tycoon so much boasted, has had some lime and other sand. An analysis of The Economist magazine said that "Trump's performance has been mediocre compared to the property market in New York." First, Donald inherited his father's million-dollar company, he did not make any zeros. With the help of Fred Trump (and his enormous credit capacity), Trump started investing in the real estate business even before finishing his university studies. In 1971 he took control of the company and, in one of his first administrative decisions, changed the name of the Elizabeth Trump & Son company to the Trump Organization. It is true that the mogul successfully popularized his brand in hotels, financial centers, residential complexes and golf courses throughout the world. But many of his businesses have not been so prosperous. His companies have declared bankruptcy six times, and several investment decisions were a failure. Nor is his fortune as abundant as he says it’s supposed to be. Forbes calculated his wealth at $ 3.7 trillion, which is well below the ten that the tycoon constantly says he has. "I think he is very good at the real estate business," says his biographer Antonio, "but not so much in other things. He tried to drive an airline that failed. He tried to run casinos and failed four times. There is no evidence of brilliance in operating a complex business." In addition, many of his businesses have been illegal, such as Trump University, which taught the real estate business between 2005 and 2010 but was not accredited to provide that service. In 2011 New York prosecutors sued the tycoon for defrauding students and operating the university without a license, in a court case that is still pending. In fact, the first time that Trump obtained certain media notoriety was in 1973, when they sued him for denying the possibility for people of color to buy houses in one of his residential complexes. Trump has been involved in 3,500 court cases (of which the defendant was in 1,450 cases).

The entertainment industry has given him important help. In 2003 the reality show The Apprentice, produced and starring Trump, aired with the tycoon's fame (especially among many middle-class viewers who watched his show) and helped him to consolidate the image of a hard-working business man. Ironically, Hollywood, where the man is highly unpopular, contributed enormously to presenting that figure. The tycoon has appeared in at least 20 films and television programs according to IMDB interpreting himself. Thanks to this, Trump has managed to position himself as a successful business man. His cult to his own name has driven him very effectively. Of the 515 companies managed by Trump, 268 have his surnames. Not to mention the hundreds of products that use his name, from energy drinks to table games.