Advice from Donald Trump

I love this story, especially when I tell it to people who don't like Donald Trump.  In some cases, I've even been able to tell people that they sound just like Trump, which drives them crazy.  I don't think it makes sense to love or hate Trump reflexively.  Like anyone else, he is a complex human being, both good and bad.  Stephen A. Smith seems to be able to judge Trump rationally, both good and bad, and the record shows that.

First of all, here's the story:
"Stephen A. Smith Reveals The Advice President Trump Once Gave Him"
https://thespun.com/news/stephen-a-smith-reveals-advice-president-trump-gave-him

It's a story about how you handle yourself in a negotiation, and how you may expected to be treated if you don't.  Quoting Smith:

“We’re in the green room (of the former ESPN2 showQuiteFrankly), we were talking. And he said, ‘Stephen A…you’re doing good, you’re doing good…but there’s more things for you to accomplish.’ And I said, ‘Okay.’ And he said, ‘Take my advice…when you go to a bank and you borrow $3 million and you can’t pay it back, you got a problem…but when you go to a bank and you borrow $300 million and you can’t pay it back, we’ve got a problem…the moral of the story is, the more someone invests in you, the more they must work to ensure your success.’ And when he said that to me, I held onto that for the rest of my career, because so many times, I was big about well you know what, this is what I do. And as long as I’m in the public eye, I’m a bit ubiquitous, I’m gonna be relevant. But guess what? If you come cheap, you’re also expendable. But when you cost more, they have to work more diligently to ensure your success.”

I think this advice makes a ton of sense, and I try to use it when considering new jobs or other opportunities in life.