From the tumultuous real estate market and negotiating techniques, to strategies for job success and the keys elements to Donald Trump’s entrepreneurial proficiency, George Ross, Executive Vice President and Senior Counsel for the Trump Organization, demonstrated his business prowess and expertise in front of over fifty eager students, professors and invited guests.
Moderated by AAA Spokesperson Robert Sinclair, the event seamlessly combined Mr. Ross’s business intellect and Mr. Sinclair’s outstanding communication skills.
Mr. Ross began the evening by cracking a multitude of jokes, including references to the Celebrity Apprentice and his interactions with Mr. Trump. Ross, senior legal and business advisor to Trump, stressed the importance of speaking to students and how strikingly different the current landscape is from when he grew up. ‘’I really enjoy the opportunity to meet college students. What you’re going through is a lot harder than what I went through. The world has gone up six knots in speed.’’
Mr. Ross placed the blame for the sub prime meltdown squarely on the ‘’greed’’ of hungry banks. Evidently, these individuals felt that it was permissible to take advantage of helpless homeowners and in the end provided them mortgages that they knew could never be paid. ’’Most people are completely ignorant and go somewhere where they feel completely comfortable,’’ said Ross. This, in reference to the fact that consumers went to banks where it was simple and easy, not where they had the most advantageous opportunity to restructure their plans. They trusted the experts in the industry and were severely betrayed.
Surprisingly, Ross asserted that the best negotiators are two-year olds. ‘’It takes time, effort and pre-planning, and if you do that then you’ll do good.’’ Since negotiation is ubiquitous and people are practicing all the time, there are no concrete rules to establish.
Mr. Ross illustrated that it’s essential in a conducive business environment to not become complacent and numb. In 1990, Mr. Trump was $990 million in debt, due in large part to banks providing him endless amounts of financing. Moreover, everything Mr. Trump touched towards the end of the 80’s turned into gold and financial institutions had the willingness and desire to offer him significantly more capital than needed. As a result of both parties foolhardy behavior, Trump was going through an arduous time period that would take years to resolve.
In addition, Mr. Ross, a real estate attorney for more than fifty years and a professor of negotiation at NYU for more than twenty years, was Trump’s first lawyer in New York. Although the budding business man possessed no experience or significant credentials at the age of 27 when he entered the field of real estate, he was equipped with tremendous enthusiasm, passion and persistence. These underlining characteristics instantly attracted Ross to the possibility of representing Trump throughout various real estate deals.
‘’Donald would try to teach me that white was black. When I got through it wasn’t black, it was dark gray. His key is both enthusiasm and perseverance. Also, he does not get into the nitty gritty. He delegates to the next person down the line,‘’ remarked Ross, advisor on the reality television show The Apprentice for several seasons.
The quintessential example of Mr. Trump’s visionary and transformative ideals was when he sought to purchase the Commodore Hotel from the Pennsylvania Railroad Station in an extremely innovative way. In an effort to revolutionize the run down hotel into a bright and prosperous place for guests to stay, he needed to borrow $80 million from the bank, receive the right of imminent domain from the state of New York, and convince the city that in a time of overwhelming pessimism in which hotel occupancy rates were under 30%, his bold idea would succeed and he could provide them the $15 million that they were owed by the Railroad Station. ’’The Donald’’ performed exceedingly well at mastering all these challenges and several years ago sold his share in the hotel for a sizable profit.
Ross equated Trump’s substantial success to the prime fact that he’ll ‘’do something no one else will do. He’ll do it bigger and better.’’ His overriding ability to see the opportunity and seize the opportunity has ultimately turned him into one of the most recognizable and trailblazing entrepreneurs of the 21st century.
In the case of Mr. Ross and Mr. Trump, they both learned very early on that in business being different makes all the difference in one’s attempt to turn their ideas into action.
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