What an utter shambles. Can I say that again? What an utter shambles. It feels good saying that and I am referring to the latest episode of The Apprentice.
Both teams were dreadful. I believe the ideas in this show were some of the worst ever, in the history of The Apprentice!
No common sense from any of the delegates.
There, I said it. What do you think?
The task: Create a new occasion for a greeting card and sell the idea and the cards to three top retailers.
Sir Alan (SAS) chose the Team Leaders. Kevin was one, Michael was the other.
Kevin’s team for an occasion card was ‘Save The Planet’, an environmental card.
So who is going to buy and send a card which is preaching about what you should do about the environment.
And then the best part of the show. Jenny who came up with the idea of the ‘Environment Greeting Card’, was so passionate about saving the planet and said, “I don’t buy cards because of the impact on the environment” (or similar words to that!). What? Did I hear that correctly? You, Jenny, thought of the environmental card idea and you wouldn’t buy one? Fire her on the spot, PLEASE.
Please, please let me know if you would buy one of these ‘Environment’ cards.
Raef in Michael’s team found a gap in the card market. Buy someone who is single a card.
Now, who is going to give someone a ‘singles’ card? Rub it in, why don’t you.
Everyone else gets a lovely valentines card, I get a ‘well done for being single’ card. Well, thanks a lot my friend – that has really cheered me up.
After the design of the cards, both teams had to pitch to the retailers to ‘sell’ their cards.
Kevin said he wanted to take ‘some kind of responsibility’ and decided he would do the pitch. It was a disaster. He should have picked the best person to do the pitch – that is taking responsibility.
When you manage a team, always, always, always use the strengths of the individuals around you.
Remove your own ego. Jenny or Claire should have delivered the pitch.
Raef did a decent pitch to his retailers and the singles card was slightly better than the environment card.
Therefore, Kevin’s team lost.
Not only did Kevin make the mistake of doing the pitch himself, he did not take Jenny into the Boardroom with him. A big mistake, which cost Kevin his life in The Apprentice. I am convinced SAS would have fired Jenny.
So who can win this years Apprentice?
Well no one really stands out and I think this year’s delegates are far worse than previous years delegates, don’t you?
Therefore, in my opinion, who could win:
Claire – strong, driven, creative, decision maker
Raef – respected, charismatic, confident, great talker
Lee – confident, easily builds relationships, gets things done
Apprentice - What an utter shambles - To learn more about this author, visit Andrew Rondeau's Website.
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Andrew Rondeau
(Visit Andrew's Website)
Andrew Rondeau transformed himself from a
$4 an-hour petrol-pump attendant to a
highly successful Senior Manager earning
$500k every year. Discover how you can
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w.greatmanagement.org/
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I think the candidates on last season's The Apprentice were the best we have had so far. They were intelligent and resourceful, and most of them possessed strong leadership skills. 
Everything I know about business I learned from M*A*S*H's Colonel Flagg:
