ENR Groundbreakers Podcast
Ex-Trump Organization Exec’s Advice for Women in Construction
Barbara Res, who led construction of Trump Tower in the 1980s, says women in the skilled trades don't need to stand out to move up
Listen: Trump Tower Construction Leader’s Surprising Advice for Women in Leadership
Former Trump Organization executive Barbara Res, who led the construction of New York City’s Trump Tower, says she rejected the thought of ever managing a construction project for Donald Trump again—even if the second-term U.S. president and former developer called and begged.
In an exclusive interview conducted for ENR’s Groundbreakers podcast, Res says “absolutely not” to the idea of leading one of the reported privately funded ongoing construction projects at the White House.
“He wouldn't want me. He knows me,” adds Res, who earned an electrical engineering degree and was in her early 30s when she started working for Trump in 1980. She bowed out of the Trump Organization in 1998 over the company’s alleged mistreatment of her and other employees, reported Business Insider.
Now in her 70s, Res has since added practicing law to her professional engineering credentials and frequently lectures about her experiences as a high-ranking woman professional in male-dominated sectors, some of which she has detailed in her 2020-pubished book, Tower of Lies: What My Eighteen Years of Working with Donald Trump Reveals About Him.
“Women were always having to prove themselves,” says Res about women of her generation climbing the corporate ladder in the 1970s, ’80s and ’90s. “The sad thing about that is much of it is still true. You can have mediocre men, but you really want women to be the greatest.”
Yet when it comes to women working in the construction sector, Res says she advises them to stand firm in their abilities and chase the work—not the recognition.
“For a woman that has a woman-owned business in construction, I would say, be part of the group. In other words, join the associations and things like that. Don't stand out,” she says, adding, “You stand out already. You don't have to prove yourself anymore.”
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To be “one of them” is sometimes better than “trying to get into the in-crowd,” says Res, advising that she believes quiet self-confidence is also a form of leadership. “That's very important. Self confidence is the most important thing a person can have.”
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