Women at Work

Greetings Mr. Trump~

While I don't too much worry about glass ceilings, I certainly admire Carolyn and the role she plays on the Apprentice. I would love to make enough money to support my family entirely. Let my husband stay home and take care of our young son. This way I could dive deep into my current career. I'm currently working in the property development business in milwaukee as an executive assistant. HOWEVER, I plan to learn as much about this business as I can so that I too can either develop properties (condos/lofts) and/or learn enough to profit from buying and selling real estate. I've read your book: How to Get Rich and I absolutely loved it. I learned a lot from you and I do believe that you and I have a lot of the same characterists (business-wise). I want to compliment you on how you go about hiring the leaders of your companies. You believe in a person's character, loyalty, integrity and ability to deal with others. That says a lot about you and how you have become quite successful

The strongest power of woman is her heart.Gentle and tender like a feather of a pigeon, strong and enduring as a steel.Open heart on the wings of intuition and mind gives quality of being that evokes gentleness, kindness,nurturing and warmth.Woman is a Moon, men is a tide and ebb.Looking in the eyes of Carolyn Kepcher, I see a bright,strong Moon that evokes strong, magic tides.

I have a message for wonderful women that read this wonderful blog:Open your hearts, be the brightest Moon and create the strongest and magic tides.The future of us all will be so bright that we have to wear shades on:-)

I was raised as a tomboy. My father had me helping nailing in floors at the age of 4, painting the house at 6 and roofing at 9. My mother was bound and determined to have me be a lady, gymnasticts at 4, ballet at 6 and theather at 9. I was fourtnate enough to have a parents who were bound and determined to have his daughter be able excel in a world where both sexes were becoming equal. Becoming being the operative word. My father always reminded me when I was approaching the working world that I would have superiors who grew up in a world where women most often didn't work and never wore anything but a dress. These were the facts of life. They were not sexist pigs, the was just the way the world was when I was born but that didn't negate the fact that I still would have alot to learn from them. I was prepared early that I would have to change peoples predetermined perception of me because I was young, petite, blond and a woman. Knowing is half the battle. I never complained - I just did. When I wanted more responsibility I took it. I did my job and my superiors job at all times. This way when the position opened, there I was the only logical choise.

Knowing your arena is most of the battle. Just seeing the perverbial glass ceiling and being able to look through it are two different things. Ladies must remember that if you put your sexuality in the ring don't be surprised if someone uses it. I've never worn a skirt that was too short, called in sick becuase I had cramps or cried at work. I never let my sexuality into play becuase then it would take the focus off my work.

I've worked in the construction industry for 12 years. I started in high school as part-time secretary worked my way to Project Manager and this year, at the age of 27, opened up my own construction company with my husband.

I've had to work harder than my male counterparts to get the opportunities that I wanted. But I thank them all for the challenge because it was well worth it.

I have all the admiration and respect in the world for you Mr. Trump. Your drive, determination, pride and sense of humor are something all men and women can benefit from here at Trump U.

I totally agree that using sexuality in the workplace is inappropriate, it detracts from the professionalism and credibility that one might have. In my 28 years in the technology world, I have often been the only woman or a female minority in the management ranks. During the 28 years, I have been single, married, and now a single parent with 2 teenage girls. When it comes to priorties, I agree with you family will come first but not at the expense of doing a mediocre job. I have recently had to tell my boss that I cannot continue travelling every other week as it is compromising my personal situation. The situation has changed and I now work from home. The real issue was I was not being paid enough (which I have discussed with my boss also) to manage and cover for my family when I travel. Nothing has changed in terms of salary, but I have accepted the current situation of working from home as it allows me flexibility I otherwise would not have..i.e. no reason to whine. But at the end of the day, the looser is the corporation in my mind as I sit here and think of the under utilized human capital at their disposal! And oh, back to sexuality, I was told

Sexual politics is always a juicy topic. I think back on my childhood days watching "Father Knows Best" or "Leave it to Beaver" and thinking how simple and easy life seemed to be. As a kid, I didn't understand the repression and discrimination going on behind the scenes.

I was very lucky as a child, my mother worked during school hours and was home when we came home from school. NOW I look back and believe that my mother was held back in many ways. She was the second to top student in her graduating class, well read, extremely intelligent and amazingly artistic. Her driven personality would naturally have propelled her to the top of any company.

I can only wonder now what "could have been" had our society evolved into a peoples that treated all individuals equally. Imagine if her family and my father would have said "hey, you're bright, let's find a way for you to excell with a major company or find a way for you to have your own dreams come true."

My parents' marriage was less than wonderful, yet they managed to do a good job with us. They both sacrificed financially though. If my mom had been supported to do what she loved and earn money doing it, she would be financially set and our upbringing would have been more stable because we would have had fewer financial worries.

Today, I sruggle in my mother's footsteps working with a group of men in a start-up company, and in spite of my credible and asset producing contributions, I am the low rung on the ladder. I feel the discrimination at my core and it is infuriating. But I did my share to feed that fire. The anger is there, but I take my share of the blame.

Women must understand that they need to play the game as the rules are stated in order to get ahead. It is not "fair" that the basic rules were written

As a sole parent for fifteen years, with two sons who have turned out much finer than I could have anticipated - one now powering through university and the other completing his high school education while training for a career in the arts, I have had an interesting career to date.
My cv is definitely not traditional as I have at different times run my own small businesses (3 on the go currently), taken on contracts of various lengths in a range of industries or lectured/taught in academic and professional settings. I have now returned to university to complete an MBA - partly to give future employers some confidence that I haven't just been messing around for the past twenty years, and partly to consolidate all that 'on the job' learning and pick up on the bits I've missed.
At 40 (and a bit), I must confess to being a little more concerned about ageism than sexual politics! However, as I am now in a position to focus much more seriously on my career, I really don't have any concerns about so-called glass ceilings. I am happy to take my time to find a CEO who recognises the contribution that twenty years of skills, experience and dedication can make to an organisation - and who wants to work for a company that doesn't recognise those things? And in the meantime, I'll just work towards improving my knowledge base and building more practical skills as I continue to develop my own businesses.
The message in all of this? Understand that the choices we make - as women and as men - do not all have to be made

In my experience, the problem is not a glass ceiling. It's a sticky floor. One of the biggest obstacles my clients wrestle with is insisting on being fully, deeply competent *before* they will take on a new project, and even then, waiting for an invitation. They are reluctant to take risks and to change - and that keeps them small. My successful clients, on the other hand, do their homework and take smart risks. So if a woman chooses not to go for the corner office, I applaud her - as long as it is her way of building a life on her own terms, and not a path she's giving up on because of the story of a supposed "barrier" repeated and repeated

Mr Trump, when a woman place their family second in place after her career, they are often labelled as un-nurturing & selfish. When a man does that, he is brave for putting his career first.

When a woman in umarried and instead choose to commit to a career, she is labelled as an grumpy old maid with no life ahead. When a man does that, he is committed. Just commited.

Glass ceiling looms ahead not because of family. It is the nature and expectation of the society that scorn a woman's capability.

Mr. T., great that you jumped onto the blogging bandwagon and take some time off each week to write snippets of business news/issues/tips for readers. It's yet another example of how you can juggle success (and seriousness) with fun (and entertainment). Keep it up!

Hi Mr. Trump! I must say that I really admire you for being so forthright in discussing such a hot issue as "The Glass Ceiling" for women in the work place. You've done a great job on touching some of the key obstacles of the "Glass Ceiling" phenomenon. However, I'd like to add another factor which extends upon a concept explored in one of your other blogs (http://donaldtrump.trumpuniversity.com/default.asp?item=102508): The idea of "comfort zone." The status quo of corporate America is an old, white boy's network which tends to incubate those who are similar to the status quo. Sometimes, it's simply easier for someone to advance into the next lane of your career when your "comfort zone" is the entire establishment driving corporate America. That's an obstacle of the "Glass Ceiling" effect that's completely unrelated to familial priorities which so often tends to becomes gender-associated with women. Using your own anecdote as a source for inspiration, I would encourage more women and minorities to break out of their "comfort zone" and break through the "Glass Ceiling."

On a sidenote, how long have you been planning to building your condos in LV? It would be fundamentally educational if you could divulge the logic behind the timing of this venture in a future blog for your readers and students to understand. Las Vegas has has been the west-coast's equivalent to Atlantic City (or is that vice-versa?) and I was curious as to why you've have decided to develop now? Also, if you could touch on why you chose to put the focus more on residential condos versus a hotel/casino business model, that would be an insight I'm sure many readers would like to know. I hope you take requests. ;) BTW, the floor and construction plans look gorgeous! I love the selection of amenities and features you've decided to equip the units with and I wish you the best success!

Respectfully yours,
Caroline Nguyen

You using your vice president, general manager and chief operating officer of two of your golf courses, Carolyn Kepcher, as an example of a powerful woman that has surpassed the "glass ceiling" is right on. I have seen her on The Apprentice and I have seen her being interviewed on many TV shows. She always presents herself beautifully with dignity, intelligence, class and style and really seems to be fun-loving and enjoys what she does. The iron fist in the silk glove, as it were. She has managed to balance her business life and her family life in an outstanding manner. She should give a seminar. Not only is she everything you say she is but she is also pleasing to the eyes. Your team is top notch.

Hi Mr Trump - in general women have to be tough in the business and the real world, including being shrewed! Most women I know in business have that ability to adapt there workplace and family life, than men, due to men more chase the dollar sign than women do - sure we would all like to be successfully in our own right, but, it also depends on the measuring cup for the word "Success"!

No woman need be stuck under a glass ceiling. She can always exercise one of 4 options:

1. quit
2. file suit
3. wear the sexiest dress she can find, ask to be promoted to the (glass) floor above, and, on promotion morning, don a pair of trousers before reporting in to work (the trousers are there to ensure that those below can stay focused whatever work lays at hand).

Signed,
Homo Pragmatus

Excellent!

Thank you for your stand on women's sexuality and succeeding in the workplace. We are in agreement.

I think one additional ingredient that helps support that glass ceiling and has somehow managed to avoid being credited is the stuck-in-a-rut unhappy female co-worker. When a woman is promoted, instantly, the sniper kicks in. You talk about gossipy, bitter, jealous, sabbotaging, backstabbing and malicious undermining behavior! As an example, as a single mother, I was asked to work in Chicago to help retrain the Customer Service Dept. of a manufacturing corp. following a take over. My expenses were going on my charge card and then reimbursed by corporate. A female accounting manager at corporate withheld my expense checks for 3-1/2 months, at Christmas time, because another female co-worker had told her she better watch out because she thought I was after her job. When I got my money, I found a better work environment.