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Book Selected for Project

TRUMP
Think like a Billionaire
Everything You
Need to Know
About Success,
Real Estate,
And Life
Written By:
Donal Jhon Trump

Donald John Trump

Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American businessman, investor, television
personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the
founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner,
and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have made him a well-known celebrity.
People know Donald Trump from his media appearances, particularly from his participation
in the hit reality shows The Apprentice and Celebrity Apprentice. However, his leadership is
not something that is as commonly known as publically. The question many people have is
whether or not the type of personality Trump exudes on television is the same type of
personality that informs his leadership style.
A true understanding of Donald Trumps leadership style will reveal that in terms of his own
business dealings, his leadership style reveals a man very different from the one people have
seen on TV.
After reading his own written book, think like a billionaire and watching
some documentaries about him like Donald Trump All American
Billionaire, Amazing Success Story of Donald Trump, Life Story of
Billionaire Donald Trump i am know able to understand and discuss some
different aspects about his business life and leadership.

TRAIT APPRAOCH
Leadership traits were studied to determine what made certain people great leaders. They
focused on the innate abilities and qualities possessed by leader. The theories that were
developed were called great man theories which suggest that leaders are born to be a leader.
In case of Donald J. Trump he was born in business family, his father was also real estate
businessman. He has a lot of good innate characteristics which could make anyone successful
but it wasnt enough. His father guided him in a very good manner through his life. In his
book think like a billionaire he mentioned his father contributions so many times. He
mentioned it that his father was a good real estate businessman and he taught him everything
he knows about business, he took him with himself on different occasions and taught him
how to deal? How to work in different situations? How to make tough decisions when
required? etc.
Its true that Donald Trump earned what he has today, not given by his father but the
knowledge through which he earned it was from him. So i think it would be too much
difficult to be such a successful leader just with in his innate skills and abilities without his
father contributions. He would not be in real estate business if it wasnt his family business.
So we can say that his personality and leadership was developed in business family. He
worked hard on the knowledge gifted from his parents, took high risks and puts his name
Billionaires list.

SKILL APPROACH

Skill approach suggests the knowledge and abilities are needed for effective leadership.
Leaders effectiveness depends on leaders ability to solve complex organizational problems.
Skills approach consisted of three different major skills which are: technical skill, human skill
and conceptual skill.
It is a fact that no one can become billionaire without having business skills, if anyone can,
than he would be surely a lucky person. In case of Donald J. Trump skills and the three major
skills mentioned above which are required for effective leadership I think there are some
differences. I think Trump has just one of these skills i.e. conceptual skills. He knows to work
with ideas and concept. Or we can say that he always has some great ideas to work on and
love the people having good ideas and concept. And I thinks in his ideas has also an
important part in his success.
On the other hand he admits in his book that he doesnt have knowledge of using advanced
technology, he always hires people to get the technical job done. He just offers his ideas,
concept and wealth to them and wants good result in return.
Another thing which contributed in his success is his brand name TRUMP. Because of his
wealth and publicity through TV shows his brand value is so high that now everyone is ready
to pay high prices for Trump name. His clients believe that they would never be in loss with
trump and this image attract more and more people and his brand value is continuously
increasing without doing hard efforts or expanding money on it, even he is earning on it, he
takes $150,000 for speaking in public or on TV show.
As for as human skills are concerned Trump is know by his toughness, he goes very hard on
his employees and contractors. In case of any failure he doesnt to give a single chance to
them. He directly use his famous phrase You are fired in such situations which means his
employees are also in big pressure of losing job at any time. So they cant work with fully
motivated way.

STLYE APPRAOCH

In style approach we emphasis on the behaviour of the leader, i.e. his behaviour is task
oriented or relationship oriented, what is more important to him the task or the people.
If we talk about Donald Trump than to me his behaviour was task oriented, it doesnt mean
that never take care of his employees, he take good care of them but at the same time he will
never compromise on the task for the people. He always wants his employees to get the job
done as they are told, he wants his employees to love their job but at the same time if they
failed to do the task than he may not give them second chance, so in this situation how an
employee can love his/her job.
According to style approach and in my point of view Trumps has authority compliance (9, 1)
type of leadership style. Trump gives high salaries to his employees and demand high results
from them. Trump is a type of leader who leads from the front, he himself work hard he also
wants others to do same for him, but in reality this may not be possible because followers can
follow their leader, but they cant be exactly same like him. With this type of leadership style
he may lose some talented people who could be assts for the organization, and i think every
employee would feel uncomfortable if they are treated like this.
Trump respect talented people, he loves the people who love their jobs but on the other hand
he hats the people who worked only to earn money, even if they are talented too. In his book
he mentioned it number of times that he love his work, he is doing it for fun, his first
objective is not to earn money, but in reality let say if any employees within his Trump
organization failed while enjoying his work I am sure for Trump it will takes less than a
minute to fire him.
Trump is not a bad person; he is a very good indeed. Even he treats his competitors with
much respect. But when it comes to business he never compromise on anything. Trump is
determinant, hard worker, aggressive, creative type of leader but having these qualities not
everyone can become Donald Trump.

Situational Approach

Well as for as situational approach is concerned Donald Trump approach was not that much
situational. Situational approach determines that leader may change their leadership style
according to changing situations because situations are not always same, and different people
behave differently in different situations. So if a leader applies situational approach he will
change his leadership style accordingly.
According to situational leadership model developed by Blanchard (1985) Trumps leadership
approach would Delegating i.e. Low supportive and High directive, while his employees are
at stage of D4.This is because he always hire high qualified and competent employees. He
just gives them direction in which he wants them to work and expect the desired results from
them. In his book he mentioned how important time is for him. He sleep four hours a day and
work in the remaining hours so how it is possible that he would spend his time to teach his
new employees. We can also see in his TV (The Apprentice) show how he selects his
employee for his organization.
We can also say that Trump always tries to avoid situational approach or he applies it in
different way. He hired right person for right job. Put them in right situation where he could
adjust himself easily.

Contingency Theory

Contingency theory match leaders to appropriate situations. It suggests that leaders

effectiveness depends on how well the leaders style fits the context. To understand the
performance of leaders, it is essential to understand the situations in which they lead.
Donald Trump in this case was i think much effective. He worked efficiently in different
situations. He faced so many difficulties at the start and also when he was owner of empire in
New York. At the time Trumps took charge his fathers real estate business, he also took
some bold steps, increased investment in his business and buy some buildings, that time
people thought he is going nowhere. No one was interested in real estate business. But he
took his chance and did well. Those building were much of worth after sometime. And when
his name was among most successful investors and businessmans he faced bankruptcy
situations but he played well and got rid of those problems.
Every business face difficult situations so as businessman but what matter is dealing with
those situations. Leaders effectiveness can be judged in such situations. One reason how
Trump save his business from bankruptcy was his brand name. It was like a too big to fail
situations, they were afraid whole market would be crashed if they forced Trump towards
bankruptcy, so he survived and after that he did work hard to pay those debts.
In contingency theory situations can be characterized in three different variables, which are:
Leader-member relations, task structure and position power. Situations that are rated most
favourable are those having good leader-follower relations, defined task and strong leaderposition power. And now if we look at the business life of Donald Trump we could find all of
these. He maintains strong relations with members and contractors, provide them defined
tasks and was the only person to make a decision. On the other hand contingency theory also
suggests that task task motivated leader can work effectively in both very favourable
situations and situations that are out of control and Donald Trump was much task motivated
leader.

Path-Goal Theory

Path-goal theory emphasizes the relationship between the leaders style and the
characteristics of the subordinate and the work setting. Path-goal theory can be break down in
smaller units. After dividing it in smaller units we can discuss Donald Trumps leadership
approach according to path-goal theory more effectively. And these smaller units are Leader
behaviour (Directive, Supportive, Participative & achievement oriented), Subordinate
Characteristics, Task characteristics and motivation.
According to path-goal theory leaders behaviour could change with change in subordinate
characteristics or task characteristics which will also affect the motivation level of employees.
Comparing Donald trumps behaviour with path-goal theory i think his behaviour is mix of
three of the behaviours mentioned above i.e. directive, participative and achievement
oriented, he is not a kind of supportive leader. He hires competent people in his Trump
organization, give them clear direction about task and also allow them to participate but at the
end final decision would be his own and on doing good job he also reward his employees
well.
In path-goal theory also categorise the subordinate characteristics. It suggests that different
subordinate have different characteristics within same organization and it is not complex
theory to understand, there would be differences in subordinate characteristics, so in such
situations path-gaol theory suggest a change in leaders behaviour too. But if we look at
Trumps s behaviour it always remain same as I earlier mentioned a combination of three out
of four suggested in path-goal theory. If in case any employee troubles with his task Trump
may fire him instead of providing him support. If they desire to participate Trump would
listen them but at the end decision would be his own.
Leaders behaviour also depends on according to task characteristics. Task could be easy,
structured and well defined or it could also be complex, unstructured and not properly
defined etc, path-goal theory suggests different behaviour for leader in different tasks. So we
can say that leaders behaviour also depend on task characteristics but Trumps behaviour
remains same, do it and do it in best way, only thing which matter for him is get the job done.
He never changes his behaviour to the task characteristics. According to path-goal theory all
these things at the end influence the motivational level of employees, it means we can say
that in Trump organization motivational level of employees could be the lowest, but this is
not the case the, they are highly motivated because they are highly paid for their services, it
means that trump give them healthy salaries for motivation.

Leader-Member Exchange Theory

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Leader-member exchange theory mainly focuses leader member relationship. According to

this the leader establishes different relations with his/her subordinate which depend on
subordinate characteristics. Leader-member exchange theory categories members in two
different groups which are In Group and Out Group. Members of In Group are trust worthy,
respectful, hard worker and always remain touch with their leaders, and because of this they
also receive benefits in return of good services than as compared to the member of Out Group
members. Out group members are those who are not as such interested in work, they have
only concern with their day to day responsibilities and mostly want to stay away from their
leader, and because of these reasons they are not treated like In Group members by their
leader and in organization.
If we discuss Donald Trump leadership according to Leader-member exchange theory than it
would be quite simple to say that this theory is not applicable him, he is single man in his
organization to make a final decision. People who work in his organization are all In group
members, they must be because with it there is no place for them in Trump organization. He
wants all of his employees to work hard for him, he wants them to love their job, and he
wants them to complete their task as they are told. He may not leave any option for them.
Donald Trump respect his hardworking employees, he provide them with best benefits,
salaries and facilities within and out of the organization, only thing he wants from them is to
work hard and best for the organization.
There are no In Group and Out Group members in Donald Trump leadership. Employees who
are trust worthy, efficient, intelligent and loyal to him would stay while others would be get
fired. It is because he has authority to do this; he can hire or fire anyone at any time he wants.
Now if we talk about the Trump Organization not Donald Trump personality than we can find
Leader-Member Exchange theory there. Trump owns many different companies, he hired
CEOs to run those companies. We can say that he leads team of different leaders. Now when
he assign task to anyone of his team, and ask him to make a team for this task than the team
leader would most likely select his trustworthy and the most closer members in organization
on whom he can trust that they would not let him down in front of Donald Trump.

Transformational Leadership

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Donald Trump was somehow transformational leader. In transformational leadership leader

motivate his/her followers morally, ethically to achieve more than as normally expected.
Donald Trump did this most of the time, he always motivate others through his own example.
He himself works hard, love his work and business and expect same from others.
Trump is a very good communicator and public speaker; he was a host of famous TV show
The Apprentice where every year he searched most suitable employee for his business among
a group a talented candidates from all over the United State. In the same show also motivates
the young ones for future through his special skills. Trump is also influential in day to day
business activities, people who do business with him can trust him, have confident in him,
they know Trump will never let them down and would do his best because he never want to
lose. So we can say they feel lucky to do business with Trump.
MacGregor Burns who worked on Transformations Leadership have distinguished
Transformational Leadership from Transactional Leadership where leader motivate his/her
subordinate by giving them incentives, wealth, promotion opportunities or other benefits.
Now if we look at the Trump Leadership we can see that he used both transactional and
transformational leadership approach at the same time in his business. So we can say that his
was not totally a transformational type of a leader, he just use this technique in his business to
motivate his employees to maximum level.

Servant Leadership

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Servant Leadership begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Than
conscious choice bring one to aspire to lead. Servant leadership is clear from its name and
easy to understand.
No one would believe if we say that Donald Trump leadership was actually servant
Leadership. But after reading his book and research about his autobiography I can say he has
all the characteristics discussed in servant leadership chapter. Peoples who dont believe are
those who know Donald Trump on TV Shows not in business dealings. But there is some
confusions in this type of leadership style or approach. What servant leadership theory tells us
about a leader is caring about followers, lead from the front, serve first, listen other, fore
sighting abilities, awareness etc but does not particularly tells us for which type of followers,
In business world, you cant treat everyone unique and in same way, those who are working
against policy or involved in fraud, it doesnt make sense to treat like those who work
honestly for organization. So servant leadership doesnt mean that you ignore principals of
business. Trump did the same he take care of his friends, employees, took responsibilities of
his actions as servant leaders do but on the other hand he is well known tough person.

Authentic Leadership
Authentic leadership is an approach to leadership that emphasizes building the leaders
legitimacy through honest relationships with followers which value their input and are built
on an ethical foundation. Authentic leader means true leader, a honest leader. It is newest area
of leadership research. Some events happened in world due to which people feel need of
authentic leadership, because some well known leaders were involved in those events which
put negative impacts in human society.
There are no doubts that Donald Trump is an authentic leader. He is a true leader who take
care of his followers and is honest with them, if he was not he would not be such a successful
businessman so much long time. He love his nation and his country, in each of his book you
can clearly feel how much he love his country and his people. Authentic leadership is also
important for his business, because in present era business competition is at highest level.
You will be left behind if you are involved in any irregularities. Donald Trump always like
authentic businessman and never like to do business that seems disturbing to him.

My Personal Views about Donald Trumps Leadership

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In think Donald Trump is a well organized, hard worker, honest, great learner and
determinate business leader. He loves his business and why not, he work so hard and scarify a
lot for establishing it. Donald Trump was one of the few who instead of losing his whole
business like other did in American Financial crises earned a lot and it was possible because
of the decisions he made at that time and the nature of his business. He leads from the front,
and tackles ups and down in business much efficiently.
Donald Trump is a person who was born in business family, so his education of business
starts at home. His father taught him well and he learned and implements it in much better
way. So this early education allows him to think and find new ways and techniques, which
made him creative and attractive. He always tries to finds new ways to promote his business.
In present business era promotion of business is most effective technique because without
effective promotion best quality product would not be enough to save business for long time.
For this reason Donald Trump has promoted his Brand Trump so much that now his brand
name can guarantee success for any business.
Trump is a man of rules and discipline. He himself follows rules and demands same from
others. For him trust and hard work is important part of business. He likes truthful and honest
people to deal with. I think people who want to do investment with minimum level of risk
then they would be in Trump office. He made his image, people believe in his name because
he always plays it well. When I read his book I realize that his business strategy is very
effective. First his real estate business gives him some security of investment, after that he
has promoted his brand name Trump so much that it adds huge value to real estate. Only
his brand name is not enough because value of brand name its self depends on other things.
He continuously work hard on promotion activities and on other hand he design and keep the
places in best possible way, so anyone who enter any Trump building feel in love with it.
In the end and in short words I can say that Donald Trump is one of the most successful
businessman of the world, who love his business, his country, his people including employees
and also want others to be honest with him and work hard for him means beside his softness
is more tough when it comes to principles and business.