Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has said his father, Fred, taught him everything knows.
As Jason Horowitz of the New York Times reports, "Donald J. Trump inherited more than just a real estate empire from his father. As a salesman, competitor, courter of politicians and controversy and above all, as a showboating self-promoter, Fred Trump was the Donald Trump of his day."
Born to German immigrants, work ethic was instilled in Fred from a young age. He was working as a butcher's delivery boy at age 10 and started a construction company with his mom by age 21. When he died in 1999, he had amassed a fortune of as much as $300 million by developing housing for middle-class families in Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island.
In an excerpt from "Trump Revealed," a biography written by Washington Post reporters, the authors highlight one of Fred Trump's great pieces of advice, which he offered when accepting the Horatio Alger Award for overcoming adversity:
"You must like what you do. You must pick out the right business or profession. You must learn all about it. ... Nine out of 10 people don't like what they do. And in not liking what they do, they lose."
He's not the only one to preach this key to success.
"No man can succeed in a line of endeavor which he does not like," journalist Napoleon Hill, who studied over 500 self-made millionaires, wrote in his 1939 classic, "Think and Grow Rich." "The most essential step in the marketing of personal services is that of selecting an occupation into which you can throw yourself wholeheartedly."
Decades later, this emphasis on passion is still relevant.
"You've got to find what you love," the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs said during his 2005 commencement address to the graduates of Stanford University. "The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle. As with all matters of the heart, you'll know when you find it."
