Last week, BusinessWeek published an excerpt from Ivanka Trump’s new book The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life, in which she offers advice on building a successful brand. In it she offers 10 strategies (e.g. “Make sure your team understands your mission, your vision, and your objectives” and “Focus on customer service” among others). Business savvy readers posted comments blasting the piece for being a “waste of time” and providing “elementary information.” Despite the ostensibly obvious nature of Trump’s advice, one specific example stood out.
Trump explains “be sure to put a system into place that gives your customer a voice-and, just as important, be sure to listen to it.” She explains the CEO of Orient-Express Hotels as randomly calling three rooms a day to inquire about the guest’s experience at the hotel. The strategy she cites, however, raised questions about whether a CEO could in fact reach guests randomly and if the practice was sound. How would you respond if you picked up the hotel in your hotel room and it was Bill Marriott…Steve Wynn…Robert DeNiro?
Read the BusinessWeek article here.
