Episode 8

Mama V. (my mother) always told me “Aim for the sky and if you hit a skyscraper on the way up … well you’re doin’ ok!” Its amazing to me how many of the Apprentice candidates, after having gone through the arduous process of getting on the show and standing out among the one-million plus applicants, play it safe during the tasks once they’re on the show. Mr. Burnett’s new book discusses this very thing … you have got to go for it! You will miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.

And so, everything came down to what kind of “product” each of the teams could negotiate with the artists. While Magna shot for the sky and got a couple of extremely valuable week-long packages, Net Worth displayed no creativity and got exactly what they asked for … very typical 45 minute sets at the winning bidder’s house. So, from the very start you could see that Net Worth was doomed, especially when John asked every artist for the exact same thing! I think that John was so eager to make an impression for himself with the artists that he forgot that there was a task to accomplish.

While John deserves the majority of blame for failing to create good packages there is plenty to go around. It seems to be a trend, with the definite exception of Tana, for candidates to shirk any responsibility and sense of leadership when they are not the project manager. Leadership is a full time proposition. In this case Stephanie and Erin sat back and let John hang himself with his own egomaniacal stupidity. I don’t buy that they could not get a word in edgewise if they had really tried. Either Stephanie or Erin could have showed some real leadership by stepping up and not letting John run roughshod over them while meeting with the artists.

Equally to blame was Chris for turning the whole negotiation over to John. Delegation is not a sign of poor leadership. Delegation with no direction is! Chris could have accomplished his goal of being able to focus on the production and prevented the negotiation disaster if he’d taken some time to gather the entire team and decided, as a team, what sort of packages to request from the artists. Instead he delegated the entire task without any kind of strategy going in.

Chris is extremely lucky to have made it out of the boardroom and my guess is that he’ll have to perform exceptionally from here to redeem himself. There is absolutely no excuse for losing your temper the way he did and frankly it is a huge sign of weakness and immaturity. George and Carolyn have earned the right to sit at that table through years of service, leadership and exceptional performance and while each of us candidates are at the same table, we are not equals. Did you notice how neither George nor Carolyn raised their voice in response? They are experienced professionals. Also, you must give Mr. Trump his props for firing the right guy, John, even when you know it would have been highly satisfying to fire Chris following his tirade.

So, here’s my advice to the rest of the Apprentice crew who may find themselves defending their actions in the boardroom … admit your mistakes, explain what you learned from your mistakes and how you’ll be better because of them and let the chips fall where they may. Sure this takes guts, just like throwing out a crazy idea that just might work takes guts … and yes, you may hit a skyscraper on your way up.

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