I’ve often said that conversation is the most powerful tool anyone has to cause success… but I think that I was wrong… it’s not just your conversation that’s important, it’s the conversation you are having about your vision. Case in point, Donald Trump recently admitted to publicly overstating his net worth based on his internal conversation, aka “mental projections.” The Wall Street Journal article, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124261067783429043.html, details incident after incident of Trump’s ability to weave a conversation about his success, wealth and overall abundant resources, while facts (including asset statements, ownership agreements and the like) point to a much less bright picture of wealth in his coffers.
Granted, we are talking here about the difference between several billion dollars, and several hundred million… it all seems the same to me. Yet, for the Donald, being know as a billionaire, rather that a millionaire, is no laughing matter. Consequently, he’s suing the publisher of a book about him for libel and slander, just for that reason… can you imagine saying “Millionaire… I’m no millionaire… I’m a BILLIONaire…” and then going on to being offended?
As laughable at that may seem to us common folk, Trump is brilliant. He knows his empire rests on his ability to brand himself as the end-all, be-all BILLIONAIRE with the Midas Touch. If he suddenly slipped into the ranks of the low brow MILLIONAIRES in the world, it could truly hurt the conversation he has created about himself, and in turn, his business would suffer.
BILLIONAIRE is the conversation on which his empire rests. It is the power behind the Trump brand and the source from which he continues to build his wealth. Has he ever been a BILLIONaire? Yes, of course. But as he said, his wealth fluctuates with the economy, market and even his mood. It may be that he’s only an eight-hundred-millionaire now, but he’ll certainly be a billionaire again. His vision is powerful and unbending.
The moral of the story is to create a vision that inspires you. Own it like the Donald owns BILLIONAIRE, make it who you are… but always depend on the black and white to tell you where you are.
What is the conversation you are creating?
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