Embracing your Weirdness

Oh dear, The Apprentice is back!

This is one of those shows that I really like just for the sheer variety of personalities

Just note though, this will very likely lead to some very long and rambling posts.

I must say though that I did enjoy the first episode of the new series. From my love of people watching, it was great.

So here goes:

The Task: – to make the most profit from a day selling fruit and veg on the streets of Hackney in London. The teams had £500 to purchase produce and then sell it to the general public, with a stall in the street market as a base.

The Teams: – Sir Alan split them in to girls and boys (7 of each) for the task. They are all from different business backgrounds. It should be interesting to say the least.

The Boys:-

Who would have thought that choosing a name would provide such a challenge to the lads group. It took them nearly an hour just to come up with a name, with the very pretentious Syed coming over actually as a bit of a geek by suggesting the “A Team” as a good name for the team. (I think they actually ended up as Invicta?)

By god, there was a lot of management waffle, theories and posing in this team. None of which is a match for just getting out there and doing it. Theories are good, but really shouldn’t be spouted randomly in every situation. They all sounded like they’d swallowed a business textbook! At least they took the task seriously though and approached it as a challenge not a game.

I think the biggest problem, not necessarily the weakest player, but the most likely to cause problems is Syed. I think the knowledge and epxerience are there, but the ability to play a team role is not.

There are however some members of the team who failed to even register on the radar, at least as far as the general viewer saw, and those people I couldn’t even tell you their names. As the weeks go on though, they’ll get weeded out. Should be fun to watch.

There is a real ‘blame game’ going on in the boys team. No one seemed willing to take any responsibility for their actions (and inaction). I think if Ben had stood up and said I made a mistake, then he would have stayed. I think he made the mistake of shifting, not neccessarily the blame, but the decsion making to the team. It was a gamble I suppose, he was trying to show he was a team player, but in the end it made him look like a weak leader.

The Girls:-

Oh dear oh dear. What were they palying at. I know I said that you sohuldn’t spout managment theories left, right, and centre, but that was too far in the opposite direction. Talk about taking advantage of other people, not just the market traders, but the public as well. Its just wrong. I can see why one or two of the girls were a bit apprehensive. I certainly would be.

The real problem for the girls was that they didn’t act businesslike. They were to flirtatious and pushy. Its just not good business sense.

Whilst I’m on the subject of the girls, I was sure that Jo would be the one to be fired. She was completely OTT and seemed so unprofessional, which those who know me will affirm that I cannot stand in a business context (and definaltly not in a job interview!?!) I really could not work with such a character. I think that she also wore pink trousers to the board meeting (I may be wrong because it is late now). Who would even dream of wearing such a thing in a business context?! Beats me.

Major issues:-

I think the major difference was the attitude of the two teams. The boys saw it as a challenge whereas the girls saw it as a competition that they had to win at all costs. What worries me is that they came up with the plan in a logical manner, and yet managed to avoid all good business practice and didn’t play fair.

Still the girls did do some good things. Obviously they made more profit, but they did delegate and change their plans accordingly. The boys did do this, but on a greatly reduced scale, and just a touch too late to make any difference.

They have got some real lessons to learn though. Most of what they know doesn’t mean much unless they can put it into practice. But not in an overt ‘I am going to apply this theory’ manner. It will certainly show who has read the book, and who had adapted the book to their particular style.

Those who do not recognise that learning is an ongoing process will not do very well, and will only cause choas along the way.

Now I suppose I’ve got to wait until next week.

Over and Out

So because the normal discussion board where I usually post on this subject is down, I’ll have to think about The Apprentice here instead.

The task this week was relatively straightforward, designed to demonstrate ability to delegate and manage a team with different projects, alongside a fundamental understanding of marketing. In my opinion, the winning team deserved their win, whilst, to be honest, the entire losing team were appalling.

• Paul offered no sense of direction to his team. He got completely immersed in ‘his’ part of the project, and didn’t control what the other team members were doing. And he was so arrogant about ‘the best part of the whole thing’ which in his opinion was (suprisingly!) his part.
• Siara – Was very dominating, always interrupting. Got way too involve in meaningless things like setting up the room, and had the gall to blame the Mac-man (sp?) for the pathetic advertisement he came up with due to lack of direction. She also completely cut out Rachel, and didn’t exactly do the best possible job.
• Rachel – wasted so much time, complained of being ‘tired’, then spent ages cutting and pasting useless ‘ideas’ board that served no purpose other than to make her look like she was doing something. She distanced herself from the team and didn’t really try to get involved. I wasn’t surprised that she got fired, because she made very little contribution to the team.

• Raj – Not really sure because he didn’t seem to be doing anything. In my opinion, he got off very lightly.

• Impact -Zero direction, zero communication, zero commitment. 100% blame. Zero ability to accept responsibility = 100% Failure!

On the other hand, First Forte, maintained good communication, maintained direction, and had a very effective team leader in Miriam. She kept an eye on the major aspects of the project, managed to delegate, and was able to problem solve and think around the problems that arose.

All the team members played their part, and contributed.

The result – a campaign that looked good, and was integrated across the whole ‘campaign’ with a relevant strapline. I was quite impressed.

What is really good is that it demonstrates good and bad behavior qualities and provides a useful look at what is expected of people in the business world. – And I think that is where some of these people have fallen down.

Roll on next Wednesday!