The Apprentice

Bear with me for a minute, but I’m going to have to take a moment to do a bit of promotion.  Do you see the telescope at the top of this page?  Yes, it’s an ad.  What’s it an ad for?  Well, obviously Trump University.  What is Trump University?  You could just click on the ad and see, but maybe you don’t really want to because you don’t know how it would benefit you.

So, let me tell you a bit about what’s there.  There’s a Trump blog.  See what Trump and his advisors think about the world of business.  There are classes.  You can sign up to take classes in management, real estate, and other areas of business where Trump has excelled. 

There are also self-assessments.  My husband is planning on taking one of the assessments on whether he has what it takes to be an entrepreneur.  I’ll update you after he takes it and let you know whether he thinks it’s worth the money  

Some of the content on the website is free.  Much of it costs money.  But some of it may well make you money or save you money.  So, click on the telescope, head on over there, and see if there’s anything that would benefit you.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, yes, we make money off of any purchases that people make if they click through from our site–  not as much as Trump, but hopefully enough to pay for the site  

I thought that Sean and Lee could expect a visit from The Donald tonight.  But, instead, they were both summoned to the boardroom.  Neither one really wanted to go to the boardroom, and they were confused about what to expect.  Of course, being the fashionistas that they are, they both had to get dressed in suits and ties to make an appearance.  Neither one seems the type to show up in sweats or pajamas.  Once they were in the boardroom, Donald Trump broke the news that they were the final two.  He gave them instructions to return to the loft and pick a team of three for the upcoming challenge.

When they arrived back upstairs, all the previously fired contestants were waiting for them.  A whirlwind round of interviews followed.  Sean immediately picked Tammy (now, there’s a surprise) and Andrea.  Tarek approached him about being on his team, as well.  Before finalizing things, Sean did finish speaking to the rest of the contestants. 

Lee, of course, gravitated immediately to Lenny.  It was a bit odd that he basically allowed Lenny to dictate his team.  I understand the bond the two have and how loyal they are to one another, but I really felt like Lee came off as a bit weak.

After interviewing everyone, Sean and Lee announced their teams.  Sean chose Tammy, Andrea, and Tarek.  Lee chose Lenny, Roxanne, and Pepe.  Pepe, I can hear you saying–  who’s Pepe?  You know, the guy who was fired the first week.  Nothing against Pepe, but Caroline and Donald Trump couldn’t even remember who he was.  But Lenny really recommended that Lee choose him.

The next morning, the new teams met downstairs in the boardroom.  Donald gave the project leaders the choice of two charity events.  In the first one, the teams would be working with a Bare Naked Ladies concert and Pontiac to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund.  In the second, they would be working with Pontiac to put on a celebrity hockey tournament to raise money for Denis Leary’s group that supports firefighters, The Leary Firefighters Foundation.  Initially, both wanted the World Wildlife Fund gig, but Lee quickly gave in and let Sean have it. 

Sean headed to the Taj Mahal casino with his team and really looked great–  very organized and on top of things.  He made use of Andrea’s strengths organizing things and allowed Tarek to interact with others.  I’m not sure what Tammy was supposed to be doing, but she sure is cute   My confidence waned a bit when Sean chose to go with Tammy to meet with the caterers, instead of meeting with the executive from Pontiac, who was the main sponsor, but overall I think he was doing a really stellar job.  Things were going along pretty smoothly until Andrea started coughing up blood and bleeding from her nose.  The show ended with her headed off to the doctor’s office, really freaked out.

Meanwhile, Lee took his team to meet with the executive from Denis Leary’s foundation. They seemed a little lost, as though they were expecting her to dictate what kind of ideas they should have. Unfortunately, Lenny is the only one in the group who is truly a leader, and he’s Lenny. This pretty much set the tone for the rest of the night for Lee. He seemed overwhelmed by the task. He seemed confused. He seemed uninspired.

Unless Sean completely blows it making googley eyes at Tammy, I think this is his to lose.

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I’ll get to the recap, but I have to admit after tonight’s show I’m most concerned about what’s wrong with Andrea.  So, I’ve consulted two of my favorite medical professionals:  Dr. Yahoo and Dr. Google.  And I have a guess.  I think it is false hemoptysis.  Basically, that means that she has a posterior nosebleed (which drains down her throat, instead of out her nose) and is coughing up the blood that is draining down her throat.  Gross, I know, but definitely preferable to tuberculosis or lung cancer, which are some of the other possibilities.

“Work vs. Friendship” was the title of this week’s business lesson from Donald Trump. In this week’s business lesson Donald says that friendship and business don’t always mix. His statement is certainly true. It is hard to be someone’s manager and their friend and still effectively manage them when they are clearly not doing their job. I had this problem in my first job.

Just out of college I took a job with a small educational software company. In 6 months time I had a team of 5 people working under me. I became good friends with my employees and at times it colored my objectivity. Four years later when the company was closing down, I had to make decisions about who to layoff first and who to keep. It was very difficult to be objective when making this decision. I was obviously closer to some employees than others, it certainly played a role in my decision. Additionally, laying off someone you consider to be a friend is not an easy job, it can ruin the friendship. Friendships and businesses don’t always mix.

On the other hand, friendships can work well when creating a business partnership. You just have to be sure to define clear roles for the partners and go in expecting to do more work than the other partner. Doing business with friends can put a strain on the relationship, but sometimes it can make you even closer.

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Jill was out tonight, and since we taped the finale of Alias I was the only one of us who managed to watch The Apprentice last night. I think Jill would have really enjoyed it.

To start things off we see Sean talking about Tammy and how bad he would feel if she was the one to go home. Side note: Sean seems very, very smitten with Tammy.

Next, you see the recap of the boardroom from last week where Tammy goes home. I felt bad for Tammy last week. She didn’t do a good job leading, but Allie and Roxanne doomed her from the start.

Sean wasn’t all the happy about the idea of spending the week with Allie and Roxanne in the suite, and vowed to bring them down in the next task.

The task this week was to come up with a new line of uniforms for Embassy Suites hotels and the contestants would be judged by the hotel employees. Lee stepped up to be project manager for Gold Rush and at first both Allie and Roxanne shared project lead, but eventually Allie took on the role of project leader.

Sean and Lee talked to the execs of Embassy Suites and the executives emphasised to Sean and Lee that they needed to find out what the employees wanted. Sean and Lee went to discuss things with the employees. Instead of telling the employees what they wanted, they asked the employees what they wanted in a uniform. The employees were pretty happy with their current uniforms, except for a few minor things (comfort of material, flexibility to account for weather changes, etc.)

Then there was Allie and Roxanne. Allie and Roxanne were told the same thing by the Embassy Suites execs, but what they heard was “Flashy, and Trendy”. So they went to ask the employees about their ideas for creating more “flashy, trendy” uniforms, instead of asking the employees what they wanted.

Back to Lee and Sean, they did a great job working together. In fact, Lee even said how great it is to work with Sean and how they are on the same page and really get along well. And it’s true, Lee and Sean work really well together, because they are both really good business people.

As for Allie and Roxanne, well Allie seemed to take over complete control of the project, and Roxanne really just sat back and rolled her eyes when she disagreed with Allie (much like both of them did with Tammy). They created a very flashy, new line of uniforms, that seemed more like something you would see at a fashion show or futuristic movie, rahter than on an employee.

In the end, the employees and the executives of Embassy Suites liked Sean and Lee’s designs way better than Allie and Roxannes. Gold Rush won the final vote by 83 to 37.

Sean and Lee were rewarded with a dinner with two of Donald’s children - Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr.. It looked like they all had a nice time.

In the boardroom, things got ugly. At first, they asked Donald if he could keep both of them. Donald said “no”. Then it was on! Allie and Roxanne started to get personal in their attacks against each other.

All the bickering prompted Donald to say, “In all of the boardrooms that I’ve had I’ve never seen two people that were closer than you two. And then at the end, what do you do? Attack each other?”

Shortly thereafter Donald said, “Roxanne, Allie—you’re both fired.”

The bottom line is that they both were equally responsible for losing this task and they both deserved to go home.

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Here are the poll results for last week’s poll:

Who would you have fired this past Week if you were Donald Trump?

• Allie: 33% (4)
• Roxanne: 8% (1)
• Tammy: 17% (2)
• Allie and Roxanne: 25% (3)
• All three of them: 17% (2)

Total Votes : 12

Personally, I would have fired Allie and Roxanne, but he took care of that tonight…

Donald Trump’s business lesson Monday was:

“Death to Traitors”

This lesson was fairly straightforward. In this week’s episode, Allie and Roxanne were less like teammates and more like traitors. With traitors on her team Tammy had no chance to succeed.

If you have people in your business who are not team players, who are constantly down on the company and your business you are in trouble. You need to hire team players, not traitors. You need to make sure that the people you work with have your business’ best interest at heart.

That said, traitors are sometimes created by the business. If your business treats your employees poorly, you can create traitors.

For instance, all of the outsourcing that is going on this country is creating less and less employee loyalty. This low morale could really hurt US businesses. Many US businesses are creating traitors within their companies by treating employees with less and less respect. The businesses in this country need to look seriously at what they are doing, otherwise they may find that they have created a company full of traitors.

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Last night’s episode was hard to watch.  It was very hard to watch Allie and Roxanne and roll their eyes the whole episode not supporting and/or disagreeing with Tammy, just letting Tammy take herself down. On the other hand, it did mean that Lee and Sean were going to make into the final four, which was fine with me.

Now, on to the show recap. Last night’s task was to build a presentation area to show off and sell Microsoft’s newest line of XBOX systems at WalMart stores. Both teams were tasked to come up with an area to show of what the new XBOX 360.

Sean took over leadership of team Gold Rush because he loves the XBOX.  Sean and Lee have been the strongest competitors through out this Apprentice, and I hope they face each other in the finals. I could actually see Donald hiring both of them. They would both fit in very well in his organization.  And unlike last season, I can’t see either of them being ungracious enough to stand in the way of him hiring both.

But back to the recap… 

Sean came up with a fantastic idea– a circular (360 degree) display that showcased the various ways that the xbox 360 can be utilized.  It also included “extras” from Wal-Mart and price points on everything.  It was really very shoppable. 

UNFORTUNATELY, Sean and Lee failed to “deliver the goods” again this week, this time through no real fault of their own.  They chose to outsource their signage (which OUGHT to have been a good idea).  But they outsourced to two different sign companies.  One was to deliver the round floor and ceiling, and the wrap around sign would connect to those two, but the floor and ceiling were CRITICAL.  The floor and ceiling were originally promised at midnight.  At midnight–  no signs.  At some point the owner called and said the signs would be there at 7 a.m.  At 7 a.m.?  A floor was delivered–  but no ceiling.  This left nothing from which to hang the wrap around signs.  The owner said he would return soon with the ceiling, but with time drawing to a close, Sean and Lee were left to improvise.  Their display was CLEARLY not well-executed.  The executives noticed.  They also commented on the small size of the display.  Things were not looking good.

Meanwhile, the girls were again doing their best impression of junior high girls.  Oh, it makes me so proud to be a woman when grown, successful women act like 12 year olds .  Allie and Roxanne were rolling their eyes, running through the store giggling, and generally speaking being of no use whatsoever.  (Bill was not impressed by all of Allie’s face-making.)  Tammy was not much better.  Her idea was to create a red carpet event (how many times will they trot out that same tired idea this season?) with a kind of lounge-like effect.  She made the deadly mistake of saying she wanted this project to be “all about me”.  Other than Roxanne’s pathetic sign, the concept was executed as planned.  Unfortunately for Tammy, it just wasn’t that good a concept.

So, it was a bit tense when they met with the executives.  My husband as pretty sure that they would choose the poorly executed good idea over the well executed bad idea, but it’s always so hard to read the executives.  In this case, my husband was correct.  The men were victorious.  As their reward, they were sent to Dreamworks to audition for small vocal roles in “Over The Hedge“, the Dreamworks movie inspired by Michael Fry and T Lewis’ comic strip.  They were awarded the roles, so look (or listen) for them in the movie.

While this was happening, the girls were back at the apartment.  The battle lines had clearly been drawn, as Roxanne and Allie plotted to throw Tammy under the bus. 

In the boardroom, I really thought Tammy was going to make a comeback.  Ivanka and Bill were terribly unimpressed with Allie, but in the end, Tammy went home.  That means the final four are Allie, Roxanne, Sean and Lee.  Maybe next week will be the last week that I have to watch Allie.  We’ll just have to wait and see.

Still not getting too many votes, but the readers votes echo my sentiments at this point in time.  I would hire either Sean or Lee. Here are the results of last week’s poll: Of the remaining candidates who would you hire if you were Donald Trump?

• Sean: 36% (4)
• Allie: 9% (1)
• Roxanne: 9% (1)
• Tammy: 9% (1)
• Lee: 36% (4)

This week Donald Trump’s business message was very simple “Deliver the Goods“.

The boys team “Gold Rush” spent too much time entertaining the crowd to realize that they should have been looking at other avenues for sales. The girls knowing they had their work cut out for them, found an innovative way to make more sales. If Gold Rush had spent more time selling and less time entertaining they might have “delievered the goods”.

This just goes to show that you should never get complacent with your business. You should always continue to find ways to improve, expand your sales, and ultimately “Deliver the Goods”!

Another business lesson that might have been have learned Monday night is “Don’t be wishy washy”. I think that is self explanatory.

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While Michael on the hit ABC show LOST seems to have turned into a bad guy, Michael on the apprentice was not a bad guy. In fact, he might have been just a little too nice.

At the beginning of the show, Team Synergy was asked to give one of their players to team Gold Rush. Sean very wisely volunteered. This made it girls (Synergy) against boys (Gold Rush) again.

The task this week was to simply find out who could make the most money selling Outback Steak house meals to college students from Rutgers during a football game. Lee was project manager for Gold Rush, because he is just out of school and they were trying to appeal to college kids.

Team Synergy should not have spent time testing (chowing down on) the Outback Steak House food. They wasted a bunch of time at the start that put them one step behind team Gold Rush the entire time. Team Gold Rush started off on the right foot. They planned a big extravaganza that would be certain to draw in lots of college kids. They were always one step ahead of team Synergy. They secured the cheerleaders ahead of team Synergy, they made fliers and passed them out at the pep rally before team Synergy arrived. Things were looking bad for team Synergy. Team Synergy almost got some of the cheerleaders, because Allie convinced their coach to give some of the cheerleaders to their event. However, when Michael went to finalize the arrangements, that changed. At first Michael told the coach that maybe they could send a few cheerleaders to team Synergy’s event. But when he called Lee to tell him about it, Lee and Sean both said “NO”. They had arranged an exclusive deal with the cheerleaders for them to perform at Gold Rush’s event and there was no way they were going to give up any cheerleaders to the opposing team.

By the time of the event it really looked like Team Gold Rush was going to smoke Team Synergy. However, the girls never gave up. Someone on the team came up with the idea to start delivering the food to the cars in the parking lot where they were assigned. They started going out into the parking lot and making big sales. Which won them the event.

That put team Gold Rush in the boardroom. Both Sean and Lee were dissapointed with Michael’s performance and they teamed up on him in the board room. Carolyn also attacked Michael. Donald Trump sent Michael home for not being competive enough.

Now only 5 remain: Lee, Sean, Allie, Roxanne, and Tammy. Who’s your favorite to win The Apprentice?

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I just created a new poll. Who would you hire if you were Donald Trump?

Of the remaining contestants I think I would hire either Sean or Tammy. But Roxanne and Lee are also strong candidates. I think Allie will be going home next week, unless the boys lose, then I just don’t know what will happen.

Let us know who would you choose.

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Here are results from our last Apprentice Poll:

Who would you have fired?
Lee: 33% (3)
Charmaine: 44% (4)
Tarek: 11% (1)
Michael: 0% (0)
Charmaine and Tarek: 11% (1)
Total Votes : 9

Personally, I would have only fired Charmaine, but I think Donald had been looking for an execuse to fire Tarek and found one.

I wasn’t impressed with what we saw of her work for them, but apparently executives for the Hair Cuttery chain like Charmaine’s work well enough to hire her. 

Additionally, that completely silent cab ride?  All television, it seems.  Reports say that Tarek and Charmaine were getting along just fine, thank you very much, in their cab ride together.

“Watch Your Back” was this week’s business lesson for the Apprentice. Both Sean and Lee did an excellent job of watching their back. If it turns out that Sean winds up on team Gold Rush (it looks like it in the previews), then Tammy needs to watch her back next week.

Donald Trump is right, in business you have to watch your back. I have learned this the hard way. I am just not into playing political games like Lee did this week. However, Lee did a great job of watching his back. The others in the group should have done the same thing, or at least talked to the other people they were not going to attack in the boardroom to make their own alliance.

I think that in the business world you need to keep an eye open to the politics that might be going on and watch your back. One excellent way to do this is by always recognizing other people’s accomplishments and not stabbing anyone in the back yourself.

I always try to recognize other people when they help me out at work. I am sure to let their boss know how much I appreciated their help and sometimes even their boss’ manager. This not only gives them the recognition they deserve, but it helps you make friends.

By recognizing other people they will in turn recognize your accomplishments and be watching your back for you, which is better than having to do it all by yourself.