Tough Life Lessons from Donald Trump

Donald Trump is a fast-talking, my-way-or-the-highway, ever present, reality show star and real estate tycoon…but he’s also a father.

The celebrity entrepreneur’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, has a new self-help/business book coming out next week entitled, The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and in Life. In it Ivanka explores passed-down wisdom she acquired over the years from her famous father, and we learn quite a few things about what it means to learn a life lesson the Trump way.

One stand-out passage from the book describes a time, and surely not the only time, when Mr. Trump spontaneously turned a real-life situation into a real-life lesson for his family.

Ivanka writes, “Once, when he was married to Marla Maples, we were waiting and waiting at the airport to take off on his private plane for Palm Beach. Marla was always late; it was a big point of contention between them. My father had just given up on Marla making it to the plane by our scheduled take off time and we were getting ready to roll down the runway when I saw Marla’s car pull up alongside. The door to the plane was already closed. The engines were racing. We were good to go. And there on the tarmac was Marla, all frantic and frazzled and running just a little behind. I tapped my father on the shoulder and told him to look out the window, but when he saw Marla all he did was throw up his hands. He didn’t tell the pilot to stop, and we took off anyway. I said, “Come on Dad, she’s just five minutes late.” I knew he’d turn punctuality into an art form, but this seemed a bit excessive, even for him. He said, “No, Ivanka. You have to be on time.”

While many of us have received some amount of wisdom passed on through our own father’s lessons, it’s hard to deny that when your father is Donald Trump, and his lessons are taught his way, you never forget, and certainly never repeat, your mistakes.

Via: New York Magazine