He called me up calmly asked me how i was doing and

midnight UK time, and everything I had worked for had been dashed. He called me up, calmly asked me how I was
doing, and quietly projected a message that has stuck with me: “Don’t worry about it, get up tomorrow, regroup, and
let’s fight back.”

It was clear that things had to change and we would have to take a different tack, so we fired a few people, but we
knew we had to press on. Remember the pressure DJT would have been under at that time, with his crazy TV
filming schedules and the empire rapidly expanding all over the place, but he cut through the crap and just calmly
told us to have another go.
That was comforting on so many levels: I was re-empowered to pick up the sword and the shield and do what we
needed to do. I woke up the next morning feeling like a new man, and despite the defeat, I was invigorated, and we
fought like hell for the next year to finally get the job approved. There were many further ups and downs along the
way, but after an enormous struggle, we got the project done.
On that night of the initial defeat, Trump was very measured; he gave me criticism, vented, and then backed me
up, empowered me, and moved on. This wasn’t unique to me, The Trump Organization, or the development—these
are the lessons in life everyone has to face. And, man, did I learn a great lesson that day: it’s how you process failure
and how you regroup that is the measure of a man.
We have to guide our future generations and make them understand that failure is a part of life and learning how
to get through it is more important than celebrating success. People need to learn from their mistakes and failures
and convert them to success.
Trump himself isn’t averse to making mistakes. He goes with his gut, his instinct, on so many occasions and
drives forward with the utmost confidence. He has no fear of making a misstep; he knows that he can quickly go
back and correct a situation so that he can continue forward. DJT knows better than anyone that he isn’t perfect, that
inevitably he’s going to make a mistake in public. It’s about how you react to that that matters. As DJT himself says,
“It’s better to go seek forgiveness than ask for permission.”
A senior member of a development team who had been a reliable and trusted performer for years decided that it
was time to move on. He was a tough cookie, but the pace had taken its toll on him, and he wanted a less pressurized
environment after years of backbreaking work at all times of the day and night. We were all upset, and while anyone
is replaceable, there are certain people who, when you lose them, you feel it. I went into Trump’s office to give him
the news. He was surprised and upset and said, “I was just too hard on him.” There was genuine sadness and regret
that the guy was leaving us. Trump wanted to make sure the departure was amicable because he’d been a good guy,
and he offered to write recommendations.