No Such Things As Over Exposure : Inside The Life & Celebrity Of Donald Trump
Getting To Know Trump!
Editorial Reviews
To read the latest Trump tale is to be reminded of writer Fran Lebowitz' comment that there are only two social classes in America--the celebrities and the audience. Business biographer Robert Slater, who spent 100 hours with Donald Trump, provides an intriguing link between the two in No Such Thing as Over-Exposure: Inside the Life and Celebrity of Donald Trump. About the man who made bragging an art form, Slater wonders: Does Trump have any definable business strategies and leadership strategies? Why did he become a business celebrity? Why did The Apprentice become a surprise hit?
The result is a surprisingly fascinating profile of a man who shattered the CEO public relations paradigm by branding himself rather than his product. The Slater timeline begins with Trumps' spit ball throwing, football playing, military school youth. He describes dear old Dad's philosophy of development ("Get in get it done, get it done right and get out.") This is followed by an engaging recap of how Trump changed the New York skyline by leveraging Atlantic City properties and then became a poster boy for the recession of the 1990s. His much reported rise and comeback is deconstructed in terms of his capacity for self-branding (force of personality, willingness to broadcast private life, delivering the goods, and "truthful hyperbole.")
The result is a surprisingly fascinating profile of a man who shattered the CEO public relations paradigm by branding himself rather than his product. The Slater timeline begins with Trumps' spit ball throwing, football playing, military school youth. He describes dear old Dad's philosophy of development ("Get in get it done, get it done right and get out.") This is followed by an engaging recap of how Trump changed the New York skyline by leveraging Atlantic City properties and then became a poster boy for the recession of the 1990s. His much reported rise and comeback is deconstructed in terms of his capacity for self-branding (force of personality, willingness to broadcast private life, delivering the goods, and "truthful hyperbole.")
Slater spends too much time on getting Trump to say yes to the book and trying to create a management roadmap from Trump's unique career. But he gets the details right. Trump tends to stay close the office, doesn't use computers, thinks e-mail is for wimps, avoids germs by withholding handshakes, broke up with his second wife in a gossip column, and calls himself the biggest star on television.
Slater interviewed 150 people, yet the most revealing moments are when Trump speaks for himself. For example, when he insists that he is "worth the salary of six actors on Friends." When ex-wife Marla Maples comments about his virility, he says, "That's what sells condos in New York." Such comments derail Slater's desire to extract leadership lessons from Trump. Whether you find him brilliant or a carnival barker, Donald Trump is one of a kind. His success represents a moment when a celebrity and his audience are merged: Neither can stop looking at him.
From Publishers Weekly
"The Donald" has been the subject of countless articles and monographs; what separates this book from the competition is Slater's level of access (over 100 hours of tape of the man himself), his doggedness (over 150 interviews with peers and others) and his experience--Slater has authored numerous business bios and profiles, from Saving Big Blue to Jack Welch and the GE Way. His approach to New York real estate's major mogul is a paradoxical warts-and-all hagiography, where Trump's flaws seem to play as much of a role in his success as his business acumen. Foul-mouthed asides are printed verbatim, and Trump is relatively forthcoming on his already much combed-over personal life (as he is in his own books like The Art of the Deal). What Slater does best is dramatize the tension of high-stakes business deals, and there's plenty of that, from Trump's purchase and revamping of 1 Columbus Circle to the contract negotiations for The Apprentice. Timed to be released with the third season of that hit TV series, this book's 100,000 first printing is a bet on the continuing appeal of this gruff, larger-than-life embodiment of venture capital--just another one of the many lessons on how Trump uses the media to increase the value of his properties and extend his name across his realm.
Click The More Info link To See More Information!
posted by Sean Toh @ 1:12 PM
