The Trump Blog

Some months back, U.S. Army Sergeant Dusty Englehart asked Trump University to help him and his fellow soldiers plan a successful return to civilian life. We were proud to help. Here’s the text of a recent conversation between Dusty and Paul Quintal, Vice President of Trump University. As we post today’s blog, Dusty and his fellow soldiers are still deployed in Iraq. We know that all the members of the Trump University community will join us in thanking Dusty and his comrades at arms - and in praying for their safe return home.

Quintal: Tell me about yourself.

Englehart: I am a sergeant in the Army. When I am not in Iraq, I am stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, home of the 101st Airborne Division. I was born and raised in the great state of Louisiana. Most of my family still resides there and I plan on developing some business plans and real estate deals with a few partners, some of whom are fellow soldiers.  I have been in the service for a little over three years now.

Quintal: What special obstacles do veterans face when reentering the workforce or starting companies?

Englehart: I feel that as vets we have to arm ourselves with knowledge, just like everyone else does. The only thing that I can see working against us is the fact that many of us in the military do not look very far into the future. Many of us carelessly spend combat pay and bonuses as if they were lottery winnings! In reality, that money is very hard-earned. Another hurdle to cross is getting reacquainted with civilian life. It is quite an adjustment going from a war zone to the business world.

Quintal: Why did you contact Trump University?

Englehart: I realized that most of us in the military do not know or care about our financial education or wellbeing. This troubled me, so I got in contact with Trump University to help motivate the guys in my unit to take control and stay informed about their finances. Also, a group of us that has been stationed together and deployed together multiple times have been discussing taking the bonds that we formed in the military to the business and real estate world.  But thanks to the motivation and knowledge we gained from the materials that Trump University sent to us, three of us have purchased homes back at home. We are on our way.

Quintal: That is terrific.

Englehart: We had the motivation, just not the knowledge. I think that in order to find success by starting businesses, we need to help us become better educated about finances. I believe that Trump University will be able to provide the knowledge and the direction that we are lacking.

Quintal: What products and courses did you get from Trump University?

Englehart: We received The Wealth Builder's Blueprint; The Art of Buying a Business; Three Master Secrets of Real Estate Success; Real Estate Goldmine; How to Build a Fortune; The Entrepreneur's Success Code and the Trump University 101 books.

Quintal: What do you think your first real estate investment project will be here in the States?

Englehart: I have put in an offer on a 4-plex in Baton Rouge, my hometown. I have run into some issues with the financing due to the recent sub-prime mortgage issues. But I hope I can count on Trump University to help me work those out and get my real estate investments growing?

Quintal: Yes, you can! I hope that both you and your fellow men and women in the military know that we are eager to help you make a successful reentry into civilian life. Thank you and bless you all for all you do!

It was a great Apprentice season. I kept learning important lessons, right up to the finale last night from The Hollywood Bowl.

In my post this morning, I’d like to analyze the videos that Stefani and James screened last night for Mr. Trump - the ones that were supposed to prove they were the strongest contenders to become his next Apprentice.

James produced a pretty strong video to argue his case to win. It pointed up the fact that he came to America as an immigrant from South Korea and that he was living the American dream of success. His video also showed him with his lovely wife and two adorable daughters - one of whom he had taught to imitate Donald J. Trump by saying, “You’re fired!” Very heartwarming stuff. James is obviously a great guy.

But Stefani’s video did a much better job of taking her across the finish line. It confronted directly the criticisms she had heard throughout the season: That she never completely stepped up into a leadership position, that she took a supporting role in too many tasks, that she was not assertive. To lay those questions to rest, Stefani created a self-promotional video that showed her being a forceful attorney. It depicted her interacting assertively with workers at a construction site and even showed her wearing her black belt as she mixed it up with her karate instructor. (Okay, I admit that segment looked kind of staged, but it got its message across anyway.)

So the bottom line is, Stefani confronted her perceived weaknesses. In fact, she brought them out into the open, projected them onto a screen and then blasted them to bits. James didn’t do that. He didn’t confront the widely-shared perception that he sometimes lost focus and failed to support his team.

There’s a lesson in that for all of us, isn’t there? You can’t hide from your critics - you have to fight them head-on, or they will dog you through your entire career.

It has been a pleasure to write my Apprentice blog posts this season. Thank you for stopping by. Let’s keep thinking about the career lessons we have learned this season.

Now that this season’s final Apprentice task has been completed, everybody seems to be asking who the strongest candidate is. But I would like to ask a slightly different question:

Which candidate grew the most during the season?

To me, that’s a more interesting question. And I think that the answer is pretty clear. Actually, there are two answers, because Frank and James showed the greatest growth this season. I don’t think it is a coincidence that they also are now part of the final four.

If you think back to the early episodes this season, you will remember that James brought amazing energy to every task that was put in front of him. But at that point, he contented himself with following directions, not moving out of the pack. His leadership potential only began to shine when he started managing projects for his team. Then it became obvious that he was great at understanding and balancing the strengths of his teammates.

And James kept growing. In last night’s episode, he stepped into the role of director for his team’s commercial. He made mistakes, but that is bound to happen when people take risks. When you look at the progress that James has made, you know that his potential is practically boundless.

Frank’s growth has been extraordinary too. Early in the season, he looked like someone who could follow directions, but whose leadership was a little on the short side. Then suddenly, that changed. He spoke up and challenged his team’s plans when no one else had the guts. Then last night, Frank jumped in and directed his team’s commercial with a lot of energy and finesse. There is so much depth to the guy.

Does all that growth mean that Frank and James are now more likely to win than Stefani or Nicole? In my opinion, it could well be.

Maybe that is unfair, because those are two very capable women. Stefani shoulders her responsibilities with assurance and calm. She is poised and polished, even under fire. Nicole is a firebrand who makes some questionable decisions - such as inviting Tim back onto her team last night. But she is smart, quick and electric. Wouldn’t you want her on your team?

But does slow and steady really win the race? Or will James and Frank, the candidates who showed a growth spurt, have the advantage?

Next week when Mr. Trump picks his Apprentice, we will know. But let me say that most of the big winners I have known in my career have been people who take big risks. Maybe that is because people who can grow are always chosen to lead.

In the final moments of last night’s episode, we all saw Heidi come apart at the seams. It was hard to believe that we were watching the same woman who was such a consistent winner in the early episodes this season.

That, for me, showcased the fact that it only takes one little lie to start the downfall of a career. Just one small fib took Heidi through this wrenching sequence:

1. Denial. When Mr. Trump attacked her team’s brochure for being ugly and over-packed with text, Heidi impulsively tried to blame her teammate Frank for it. A complete absurdity, since the brochure was her responsibility, not his.
2. A bigger lie. Next she tried to blame Frank for the brochure by saying that he was spending all his time working on the computerized presentation. Frank jumped on this flawed defense. How could she blame him for the brochure when he was working on the presentation? She was beginning to be boxed in by her own lies.
3. Total confusion. Next she took responsibility for the brochure, but denied that she had ever tried to pin it on Frank - even though she had done just that, moments earlier. That’s the kind of self-contradiction that usually results from a series of lies.

In the end, Heidi fell back on the final desperate defense that remains for people who get tangled in their own mistruths:

“Mr. Trump, I am not lying.”

Now, when it becomes necessary for someone to say that, there is only one logical conclusion. The person really is lying!

Would Heidi have been fired if she admitted responsibility instead of impulsively trying to avoid blame? Maybe yes, maybe no. At the very least, she would have left the show with her credibility intact.

The sad thing is, Heidi is not a dishonest woman. She simply gave in to the momentary temptation to avoid blame with one little lie. And that led to another and another. And then her whole house of cards began to fall, with no way to put everything back in place again.

Lies are like that. They are sneaky and they lure you in. They can undo, in a moment, all the good things you have done to achieve your success. Just be alert and make sure it never happens to you. 

This week on The Apprentice, Kinetic project manager Kristine escaped unscathed in the boardroom by the skin of her teeth.

The teams had to film short Internet soap operas - called “webisodes” for a new foaming cleanser. Originally, Kristine wanted Muna to produce or direct or take some other backstage role. But Muna insisted she was much more comfortable in front of the camera. So Kristine caved and let Muna be one of the actresses. Then, as the filming started, Kristine disappeared for the first few takes to tend to some other less important task!

Here’s the rub. Muna was absolutely impossible to understand on film. By the time Kristine got back to the set and saw the footage it was too late to reshoot and she was stuck with the mumbling. The team ended up losing the task, mostly because no one could understand the dialogue.

In the boardroom, it came down to Kristine versus Muna. Kristine was put in the position of defending her decision to let her employee run the show. Fortunately for her, her teammates liked her better and voiced that support to Mr. Trump. She’ll stay to manage another week.

So here’s my career advice: 

Don’t appease people.

 It doesn’t do anyone any good if you just try to make people happy by placating them. In Kristine’s case, her attempt to soothe Muna (or maybe just to keep her quiet) ending up losing the task and almost costing her the job.

If you’re the manager, then manage. Trust your instincts and make what you think are the best decisions for your team. Realize that rarely will everyone be happy with your choices. That comes with the territory.

Sure, it’s okay to give people the occasional say in decision-making. That’s what teamwork is all about. But it’s up to the leader to make the ultimate decision. If things don’t go the way they were supposed to, that’s where all the blame will fall.

I learned a lot about leadership from Surya last night. But they were lessons about negative leadership.

Let’s be truthful. Every time Surya led his team this season, he did a pretty bad job. He had no connection to the members of his team. He filled whole whiteboards with strange notes while everybody on his team made faces behind his back. He rambled when he talked. He actually disappeared on a few occasions, forcing the people who reported to him to improvise.

But last night we all learned that Surya saw himself as an fine leader who was responsible for his team’s earlier wins.

And the troubling thing is, haven’t we all worked for people a lot like Surya - ineffective leaders who thought they were magnificent? Sure we have.

Now, books have been written about working for difficult bosses, and I don’t have the space to explore that topic here in any depth. But I think I can offer you an even more important piece of advice:

Don’t become one of those awful bosses yourself

Don’t let it happen. Don’t develop a bloated ego that convinces you that you are an inspiring leader when in reality, you have a lot of work to do. Don’t alienate the people you work with and then believe they hate you because you are smart and they are dumb.

Those are traps your ego can lead you into. And as we learned last night, they are only going to get you fired.

I was astonished when Derek referred to himself as “white trash” in the boardroom last night - but I certainly wasn’t astonished when Mr. Trump fired him on the spot. Why would Mr. Trump want to give billion-dollar responsibilities to someone with a weak self-image? What prompted Derek to commit professional suicide that way?

But when you consider last night’s episode, I think you will agree that it was really a parade of self-destructive behavior:

• Before the task was even assigned, both teams already had secret agendas to destroy their leaders. 
•  When Angela missed the deadline to submit the text to be used on banners for her team’s Lexus event, she didn’t even seem to care. And Derek sat there and simply let her do it. Then neither of them looked upset when they didn’t have a full set of banners for their promotion! What were they thinking?
• Then Jenn threw up her hands and agreed to let her Lexus presentation feature go-kart rides for upscale Lexus owners. That was completely wrong for their target consumers. I was even more astonished when the rest of Jenn’s team rolled over, played dead, and just let it happen.

 So it is clear that things are seriously out of kilter and both teams have gotten caught in destructive cycles of negativism.

I’ve been in organizations where that happened. And I know that it usually occurs because people are too busy trying to avoid getting blamed for things they do wrong. First they do nothing. Next they start to do bad things to each other.

But every dark cloud offers an opportunity. In this case, any one of the candidates could sprint away from the pack by showing positive leadership.

And by the way, don’t ever say bad things about yourself on the job, because people will start to believe you. Why would you want to kill your own career?

For more ways to achieve success in the world, investigate The Entrepreneurship Mastery Program from Trump University. Classes are forming now.