Integrity is the essence of everything successful.
—Richard Buckminster Fuller
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In Addition to Business:
What the Successful
Person Needs to Know
I
’ve recently encountered a situation that brought me back to
something I had learned a long time ago—that it’s not just busi-
ness acumen but integrity that carries you forward in the business
world. It’s as simple as keeping your word or, in some cases, re-
membering what your words were. It seems that for some people,
simple isn’t always easy.
I came from the world of construction and real estate devel-
opment, which is known for being demanding and difficult, but
it also requires precision. There can’t be anything haphazard in con-
struction or people can be injured. “Happenstance” is not accept-
able. I’ve applied that approach to everything I do.
I can remember when a visitor to my offices commented on
how many blueprints there were. He said, “Some people have
skeletons in their closets, but I can see that Trump has blueprints
in his.” Sometimes I think people forget that I’m a builder, a de-
veloper. That’s my core, and blueprints are important. It took me