Donald Trump on Quitting and Failure and Success

Dan Schawbel interviewed “The Donald” Trump… you can read the interview on his Forbes article here.

I’m thinking about one question/answer…

Can you name some of the biggest reasons why most entrepreneurs fail?

They tend to give up too easily. I’ve seen people that are extremely brilliant and they don’t have the staying power. They don’t have that never give up quality. I’ve always said that other than bad ideas, which is a reason for failure, the ability to never ever quit or give up is something that is very, very important for success as an entrepreneur.

Pretty powerful, and I agree that quitting too early, and not having “staying power,” is detrimental.

Contrast that with with Seth Godin’s theme was in The Dip (I was involved in getting Seth Godin to SLC on his Dip tour). Seth’s theme was to know when to quit, and then move on.  Quit early, learn from “failure,” etc.

So, Trump says to stick with it.

Godin says to quit.

What do you think?

2 thoughts on “Donald Trump on Quitting and Failure and Success”

  1. What a great topic! I often reflect on Seth’s book and find myself looking for the clues or markers that would say “Good try but time to let go of this.” How would one know when they have reached what I call the tipping point…too much time, money, effort and family sacrifice invested. We have all heard that success could be just around the corner but what if it isn’t? How does one make a wise decision to change course? …or not?

  2. @Rita… Who knows? LOL … I think it’s easy to play Monday Morning Quarterback and see what you coulda-woulda-shoulda done… but when you are in the thick of it, it is hard to see… at least, that’s been my experience.

    Perhaps a good mentor, coach or adviser could help see the forest through the trees… and sometimes it just takes intuition, faith, and the ability to make a decision and move forward with your decision…

    How have you handled this type of thing in your business?

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