Trump: How to Get Rich

Know Exactly What You Want and Keep It to Yourself

If you’re careful about what you reveal, you’ll have more flexibility as you gather more information about the contours of the deal.

In order to complete Trump Tower as I envisioned it, it was necessary for me to control an adjoining site on Fifty-seventh Street owned by Leonard Kandell and leased to Bonwit Teller, a dying department store chain. Len Kandell was a shrewd real estate developer whose ultimate desire was to own land in strategic locations forever. I tried to gain a long-term lease, but Kandell was asking for too much in rent, and we were stalled.

Meanwhile, during negotiations to buy air rights from the adjoining Tiffany store, which would allow me to build a larger Trump Tower, I learned that Tiffany also had an option to buy the Kandell property at a fair market price. This was news to me, and a crucial piece of information, but I didn’t let anyone know how important that news was to me.

I led Tiffany to believe I was interested only in air rights, without calling any special attention to their option to buy the Kandell property. They sold me their air rights and basically threw in the option as part of the deal.

Then I told Len Kandell that I was no longer interested in a lease on the land. I was going to buy it, using the Tiffany option.

Kandell didn’t want to sell, and I really didn’t want to buy. With my new leverage, I suggested reconsideration of a long-term lease. This time, Kandell agreed, and we quickly closed on a mutually acceptable lease, beginning a friendship that continues to flourish with his heirs.

Don’t be confined by your expectations. Sometimes, what we think we want and what we actually want are two different things.

On more than several occasions, I have discovered in the middle of negotiations that what I had wanted was the wrong thing. Sometimes, my negotiating partners have given me ideas I hadn’t thought of. Even adversaries have given me new ideas. Sometimes, a big question suddenly comes into my mind and I begin to think in a new direction.

Cut yourself some slack. It’s okay to change your mind and suggest a different approach—as long as you haven’t made any commitments to the other side.

Some people, while admitting I’m a good negotiator, have said I’m devious. I’m too busy to be devious. I just assimilate new information quickly and move forward in unexpected ways—unexpected to the other party as well as to myself. That’s one reason I find negotiating exciting.

Perhaps because I’m a Gemini, I believe there is a duality to negotiating. You have to balance reason with passion. Reason keeps you open. Passion keeps your adrenaline going.

Before you begin any negotiation, write down your objectives. Then try to anticipate what the other side might want. Find a way of talking about the deal and setting up parameters that will keep either of you from getting locked into an impossible position.

Know what you want, bottom line, but keep it to yourself until a strategically necessary moment. Once all of the issues are on the table, you’ll have a better approach to navigating your way to your desired solution.