The Apprentice: Lessons to Learn

The Final Two Ended Up Being Clint and Brandy

Trump felt that Liza was not able to defend herself well during the numerous times she was in the boardroom. First lesson of the show: know your elevator speech. I talked about this briefly on my last post "Networking is a Job". All three were asked the reasons they should stay. Clint exclaimed "I'm a CEO in a box" and went on to name his credentials. Brandy also named her credentials and experience. Liza had a more subjective approach, deciding to talk personally about why she should stay. Compared to the other two, her elevator speech was not as compelling. As I mentioned, Liza has a problem defending herself (maybe that will be another post), and at this moment, where she was one step away from leaving, her elevator speech should have been on point. I clearly saw the reason she was sent home.

The Task

Team Clint, consisting of Mahsa, Steuart, and Poppy will be running the dinner gala with Liza Minnelli as the performer

Team Brandy consisting of Stephanie, Liza, and Anand will be running the VIP golf tournament

Team Clint

Clint realized he took on the larger task of handling Liza Minnelli's rider, the list of items a performer requests present in their room before performance. Clint admitted he wanted to handle the larger task so if the task was done successfully, he would seem like a bigger winner . Everything was fine. The signage is ordered, most items on the rider are obtained, and an outside caterer had been hired to handle Liza's food. Then, the caterer backed out last minute. Clint and Steuart were then left to find a company able for the job. While catering to a handful of people is not a big issue, doing so the day before an event is a problem as most catering companies were booked and had no room to take on another order. But this is not Clint's fault, unlike the next issue. 

During the apprentice, when I was just about to tweet about Liza, I immediately went to my google bar and googled her last name.  Clint did not that for signage totalling $4,000. Mahsa discovered the mistake and thought it was one poster but she and poppy realized it was the everything. The team only had $1000 to $1400 left. This leads to the next lesson: don't misspell important names.  Liza is the star; you don't want to piss her off. Maybe Liza will give her famous laugh and take it as joke.  But the misspelling will look bad to the guests and Trump. I'm not a star but I remember when a corporate executive commended me on a "job well done" and spelled my name wrong. My name was also spelled wrong on the company website. I took it in stride and still enjoyed the moment. Still, I was left thinking how could an executive not double check the spelling of someone's name. I wasn't "google-ble" but Liza Minnelli is well known. This mistake left me in shock and very disappointed in Clint. 

Team Brandy

From the beginning, Brandy leaned heavily on Liza who is a golf  player and formally, part of the Kenyan golf women's team. Brandy had no knowledge of golf or the way in which a tournament is run and gave Liza much room to give her expertise. Brandy doesn't know anything about golf, but she did not have to consistently tell everyone. Next lesson: Do not play dumb. Even if she knew nothing, she should have kept her confidence and done some research for information.  It's okay to have a more skilled person than yourself working for you. But you must still place yourself as the leader. Not every leader is an expert, but leaders must exhibit confidence.  When Don Jr. came to assess the progress of the team, Brandy failed to speak. Instead, Liza and Stephanie spoke for her. 

The task moved along. Then, Brandy comes up with this big idea to ask Trump who he would like to play golf with. Before I even knew his decision, I knew this would be a problem. Never make promises you cannot keep. So let's say Trump wanted to play with Kathy Griffin. Brandy would have to assume Kathy Griffin does not already have a partner or other plans which would deny Trump his wish to play with her. Then, if Kathy did not wish to play with Trump, Brandy would have to get back on the phone and say to Trump "Sorry, I promised you your partner but I failed". So, what was Brandy to expect when asking Trump the question? Trump picked Liza, who had earlier proven her golf skills. Unfortunately, Brandy would be one person short during the big event. Brandy and Stephanie sat there with "oh god" looks on their faces because they realized they made a promise and they cannot break.

The last moment for Team Brandy was the photographer who went to the wrong Trump National Golf Course. The photographer stated Brandy did not confirm the correct address and he was two hours from the correct location. From my experience working with outside contractors and facilities, I have had people lie when they make mistakes. So, I will not say for sure Brandy failed to give the correct address. I will instead state the next lesson: cover your ass(ets). Brandy should have emailed the address to the photographer, texted the address, or given the address over a speaker with her team in the room. Therefore, if the photographer made a mistake, there would be someone else, an email, or text to confirm who was at fault.  Either way, Brandy started her event, a person short and a photographer late. 

My Prediction: I have none to give. At the half way mark, I thought Clint was doing well. With both teams having vital problems, I was left with no clear winner.