Ordinary Gweilo

The Apprentice [not The Associate as I keep calling it] continues to be fascinating but slight bizarre television. The greatest weakness of the show is that condensing everything into a one hour each week is almost impossible, especially when they have a recap of the previous show at the start and feel the need to build up the tension by showing people walking in and out of the boardroom and going into the lift. So it’s hard to judge how the teams have performed when there is little more than 20 minutes of screen time devoted to what happens on the tasks, and perhaps it should be no surprise that for three weeks in a row, events in the boardroom seemed to be more important than the team member’s success or failure in their assigned tasks.

In week 5 (after the teams were reshuffled) Kristi was the team captain for Protégé and when they lost she admitted to camera that she should take the responsibility. However, rather than admit this to Trump, she tried to come up with a strategy to survive in the boardroom. She discussed it with fellow team member Jessie and decided that the best approach was to keep quiet when criticized – unless Trump directly asked her something. When it came to the meeting, her team members (including Jessie) did criticize her and she said nothing, and she was fired for failing to defend herself. Not such a good strategy, then…

Incredibly, Jessie herself was fired for the very same reason the following week, when Protégé lost again. Omarasa (the team leader) was very rude about her and she just took it without defending herself. This seemed a little harsh, but the reality was that she was not a strong leader and so she was bound to be fired sooner or later. Omarasa had a very smug expression on her face after she survived, apparently believing that being rude and obnoxious was the same as being a strong leader.

In week 7, Versacorp lost and Tammy was fired for being disloyal to her team leader in the meeting with Donald Trump where the results are announced. Presumably she was trying to impress Donald Trump by being less passive than Kristi and Jessie – but without really understanding what it was all about. Defending yourself is one thing, but attacking your own team members without a very good reason, especially ‘in public’ is not a good idea.

In week 8, the teams had to go and get orders for ‘Trump Ice’ spring water. Unfortunately they mostly lacked a strategy and also seemed to have little idea how to sell. Nick, who is supposed to be hotshot salesman, demonstrated a complete inability to understand or build any empathy with his customers, and Omarasa consistently undermined Amy’s hand when she was negotiating. Troy, on the other hand, did eventually figure what was required and managed to generate good business, mainly from large distributors rather than bars or restaurants.

So Versacorp lost again, and the choice was really between Nick (for being arrogant and a poor salesman), and Ereka (for poor leadership skills). I thought it was a hard decision only in the sense that I’d have fired both of them, but if I was forced to choose it would have to be Nick – mainly because he had the temerity to make a short speech saying how sick he was of losing, presumably hoping to impress Mr Trump with his strength of character. For someone who had been on the losing team six times out of eight it was nauseating and hypocritical, all the more so because of his attitude and performance during the task they had just completed.

In fact Trump fired Ereka, mainly for totally losing it at the end when the results were being calculated, but also for being irrational in picking Nick and Bill to accompany her to the boardroom (and being unable to defend this decision). Given that the point of the show (ostensibly at least) is to find someone to be the President of one of Trump’s companies, it makes perfect sense to judge people mainly on how they cope under pressure when they are in charge, but I’d still have fired Nick. However, his time will come.

There are several depressing aspects about the show. One is that the contestants don’t seem to learn from what has happened in previous weeks. Perhaps it’s easier to get a sense of perspective from watching the show rather than participating, but you’d think that the contestants would take some time between the tasks to analyze and understand what had gone wrong. They persistently neglect basics such as developing a strategy, executing it efficiently, working as a team, prepararing for meetings and trying to demonstrate empathy with others who can help you, and pretty much everything else.

Another is that many of the contestants have very strange ideas about leadership, and in fact there seems to be a strong negative correlation between saying you are a leader and actually demonstrating real leadership qualities. Sam, Omarasa and Nick all seem to think that they have what it takes and aren’t shy about saying so. Yet their track records demonstrate that they really don’t have what it takes. To be fair to Nick, he actually did OK when he was the team leader, but Sam and Omarasa didn’t. Worse, all three have proved themselves not to be team players, and it’s very difficult to get respect if you behave like that. Yet they sound(ed) off at every opportunity about how good they are, and seem to think that Trump will be taken in by their bluster. Not a chance!

I have to say that Trump comes across very well – perceptive in understanding the contestant’s strengths and weaknesses, consistent in what he is looking for, and happy to give the contestants a chance to defend themselves. A combative performance in the boardroom can save someone once, but after that they have to perform or they will be out.

Of course the best strategy is to perform well enough to avoid the boardroom (amazingly, Amy has yet to finish on the losing team) or keep a low profile whilst others are fighting each other, as some of the men have done. The smart contestants are keeping quiet and waiting for their chance to come.