The Apprentice: Season One

The Apprentice: Season 1

After finishing Lost: Season One I moved onto the Apprentice. This show ROCKS. a few lessons (perhaps remedial to some, but reinforced here with example): everybody has a set of strengths and weaknesses. do not forget this. nobody is flawless. this show allows us see how those people with the pretty smiles as you walk down the street can be downright evil…or stupid in many cases. I’d like to say it fails to amaze me how bad some of these people who hold these rather powerful sounding titles are so bad as leaders. And watching my own stereotypes coming to the fore. And who is left after 8 episodes? well, the good looking ones, imagine that? here, I’m reminded of what my good friend Mike always told me about work: those that have looks have it easier. who was the first person eliminated? the MD brainiac whose interpersonal skills rivaled that of a Chihuahua or the person I respect most: the girl, Kristi, with the long blond hair who took the fall and refused to respond in a negative way, refused to point the finger at her team, even after the grilling by Trump—SHE DID THE RIGHT THING. And perhaps Donald did the right thing: if the leader is willing to take the fall they have to take it, but she is demonstrated character beyond the others who are much less developed. Another interesting pint was that early on, when the teams were divided with men on one side and women on the other, that the women gravitated to using their sexuality to gain advantage. I was also surprised to see Donald give a slap on the wrist for this action…I am curious what would have happened had he not stepped in.

Some observations: When Donald talks, he is no bull. very straight shooter. remains quiet until what he has to say creates value, short circuits long winded defenses. the first show, the project manager made an interesting move from a game theory perspective when he chose two people: to ensure the right one was eliminated he picked a second that clearly had no business being chosen as a candidate for ‘firing’. I was disappointed when the boy from Idaho didn’t cross into a grey area, he simply DID THE WRONG THING when asked to follow the agreement he made to put the number of the unit he wanted to rent when they were discussing this issue, and even more disappointed later when he felt this action was okay. it is also NOT acceptable to pawn a person off as something they are not…it was implied by their actions he was some kind of hero. this one is more grey but come on…in the end we have to sleep with ourselves at night folks…would I bring it up as an idea? sure, but does it get implemented? hell no, this should not have been acceptable after scrutiny by the team. and the copy salesman…how could he not review the information on the client he was going to see? how? I just can’t fathom this if you want to make a sale. he’s a freakin’ salesman. maybe he has some ‘it doesn’t matter, sales are made from a person to a person’, but then again, he’s a copy salesman, and I have no idea how successful he is in RL (real life). its also interesting to see how elimination is a function of leadership traits, and that is how they are reviewed. even if you royally screw up something as tammy did several times, they were innocuous and it wasn’t until she didn’t hold the line and admitted being ‘duped’ that she was eliminated.

So, I’m about halfway through..let’s see how the rest of the shows go.