What Makes Donald Trump so Successful?

Donald Trump is an extraordinary man. He is pugnacious, persistent, powerful and above all, successful in business. He is not just a real estate mogul. The Donald, as he is affectionately known, also sells a range of products, from clothing to drinking water, to cuff-links. And if that were not enough, Trump is also a television personality, who almost single handedly drove a particular form of reality game show into the consciousness of several nations.

There is no doubt that he is charismatic. His interviews command respect. There is nothing that Donald Trump would rather do than sit in front of an audience and provide his perspectives on a range of questions thrown to him by an awestruck interviewer. The effect is clearly pleasing all round. The Donald's opinions are strident and bold. They are anything but boring. Asked about political personalities or situations Donald Trump has an opinion. Often his opinions are very much in resonance with the majority opinion. For example, asked about the current president, Trump will reply with a withering condemnation of the effect of the current president's impact on America's international standing. The audience will be shocked though silently and sadly they agree.

Trump was not a disadvantaged young man. His parents were wealthy enough that he did not have to fight his way up from the gutter. Yet despite his father's money, and that privileged education, Trump has been successful. He took his advantages, that many lesser people would have squandered in the pursuit of idle pleasures, and parlayed them into a multi-billion dollar empire. That achievement is far rarer than the gutter to riches transitions which are almost commonplace in the wealthiest nation in the world.

Trump's timing has been impeccable. He is in and out of the markets at the appropriate times. His instincts are sound. Confronted with a business question, such as the best source of capital for funding a new venture, Trump has a soundly reasoned argument and strategy, and when the credit crisis rages, is able to finance what he needs on credit with aplomb.

There have been some mistakes along the way. A public squabble with Rosie O'Donnell, for example, seems a notable mistake that cannot be a proud moment in the business life of this great man. There have been some rather public changes of spouse along the way. However, somehow the mistakes are transformed, through forcefulness and personal power, into the essence of human charm. They make the frosty exterior of the titan a little softer and, no doubt, they help to break the ice in the boardroom.

Because it is in the deal that Donald Trump's success lies. He is a deal maker through and through. He convinces his buyers that his high price is reasonable. He softens those that sell to him to cut their profits to the bone. This is the essential skill that makes a successful businessman. The glitz, the charisma, and the faint echo of the television show, are subordinated to the service of the deal. They serve to impress the opponent and soften resistance prior to the low ball offer, or build expectations prior to the highest possible price that the market could stand.

Whenever a buyer and seller meet, and one of them is aided by Donald Trump, there will be a deal struck which favors Trump's side.