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On 1996, before agreeing to become one of Donald Trump's chief advisors, George H. Ross suggested some working guidelines.
No. 1: He would work only four days a week, and not Fridays.
No. 2: He wanted to take vacations whenever he wanted for as long as he wanted.
No. 3: I said, 'I want access to whatever you have. I can take a plane to Atlantic City or a helicopter, whatever.'
No. 4: I told him: 'If you're unhappy with me, I leave and we're still friends. If I'm unhappy with you, I leave and we're still friends.'
No. 5: I said, 'I'll work for cheaper than what I'm worth, but when it's time for a bonus, I want it.'
Trump's response: I can handle that.
Ross admits that it was presumptuous to make such requests, especially with a man like Donald Trump, who's better known for firing people than hiring them. But it's that type of forthrightness that has made him a success, both in business and as a boardroom judge of the hit reality show The Apprentice.
Ross, 76, is executive vice president and senior counsel for the Trump Organization, advising The Donald mostly when it comes to real estate matters.
Speaking to a room of marketing and business students at Nassau Community College on Dec. 7, Ross said he first met Trump in the late 1970s, when he was a senior partner at Dreyer and Traub, a major...