The 2010 edition of The Apprentice, NBC’s business reality show starring and executive produced by real estate mogul Donald Trump, features entrepreneurs and professionals competing for a $250,000 job contract with the Trump organization. Each week the contestants must complete a business task. The winners are rewarded; the losers must report to the infamous boardroom, where at least one candidate will be fired by Trump. Of the three African Americans featured on this edition of The Apprentice, only Liza Mucheru-Wisner remains. With each task of The Apprentice 2010, I will post performance reviews of the candidates, their teams and their project managers.
Read and comment on other performance reviews of The Apprentice 2010 Tasks.
But before delving into my summary and performance reviews for Task 9, let’s briefly address the sad case of Anand Vasudev, who I correctly identified last week as the candidate who cheated on an earlier task by surreptitiously asking a friend, by text message, to pretend to be a stranger and bring “at least $50” in cash to add to Team Octane’s sales total and guarantee a win for him as project manager. Worse, Anand:
Didn’t need the money to win the task calling for the creation of pedicab tours of Manhattan–Octane won the task going away. (By the way, the friend refused Anand’s request.)
Lied to Trump’s face when asked directly if he sent the message–during a boardroom session called by Trump to reveal the cheater prior to assigning Task 9–in front of Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump and all of the remaining candidates.
As expected, Trump fired Anand. Of all the ways to go out on, especially if Anand expected to use his national television exposure on the show to impress potential employers, this is the worst in the history of The Apprentice. There are plenty of lessons, both obvious and subtle, that can be drawn from Anand’s conduct. I’ll point out just two.
First, there is nothing more important than establishing a reputation for integrity and protecting that reputation.
I believe, had Anand come clean when asked directly by Trump if he sent the text, he had a 50/50 chance of being severely reprimanded, butÂretained. Lying to Trump only confirmed that sending the text was not a mere lapse in judgment, but a sign of a fundamental lack of trustworthiness, immediately disqualifying Anand as a potential hire.
Second, how do you think Trump got wind of the text messages? He (and/or NBC) owns the phones used by The Apprentice candidates, of course. We all need to remember that any communication that we conduct using cell phones, computers and other devices owned and provided by our employers for the purposes of doing our jobs is subject to their possible monitoring and review. I repeat: These are not private communications. We need to remember that as we’re posting on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter or sending e-mails and text messages. Just ask former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, whose text messages on city-owned devices helped to get him fired from City Hall, in addition to jail time.
Now, on to my performance review of Task 9.
Leadership Lesson: Great leaders do not weigh the value of ideas against the level of like or dislike for the person who is the source of those ideas. They do not allow their personal biases, or the biases of others, to blur their ability to objectively weigh potential courses of action, regardless of who suggests them. They actively solicit input from every member of their team, even if–actually, especially if–they don’t all see eye to eye.
TASK 9: Design and build in-door displays for the new Kim Kardashian signature fragrance and then set up the displays at Perfumania store locations.
Last week, Trump abandoned the men vs. women theme, reassigning Clint Robertson and Steuart Martens to Fortitude and
Stephanie Castagnier and Poppy Carlig to Octane. This helped Liza by breaking up the remaining female candidates’ “Liza-Hater’s Club” and placing its leader, Stephanie, on the opposing team. Liza’s respite is short-lived, however. Now that both Anand and David Johnson (losing PM on Task 8) have been fired, Octane is down to just two candidates. Trump makes Liza the newest member of Team Octane, with her arch nemesis Stephanie and Poppy, who gets a second shot as project manager (she was victorious as PM on Task 2) for this task. Clint, with a victory under his belt as project manager on Task 4, steps up to lead Team Fortitude.After unanimously agreeing to design their display around a sexy, life-size image of Kardashian, Octane quickly becomes a team of two, with Liza as an unwanted third wheel. Not that Stephanie has much respect for Poppy, who is fresh out of college and lacking in business experience. Poppy’s lack of worldly sophistication becomes apparent when she equates Kardashian’s image withÂ
sequins, rhinestones and other tacky, Bedazzler-esque ornamentation. (Ironically, The Apprentice Season 3 candidate Tana Goertz is a spokesperson for the BeDazzler.) Stephanie enthusiastically supports Poppy’s vision, while Liza is aghast, recognizing that the brand should be “classy,” “expensive” and “glamourous.” With Stephanie solidly behind her, Poppy sends Liza off to work on constructing the display; Liza is happy to oblige, wanting no part of Poppy’s design concept. When the team reunites to decorate the constructed display, Poppy is extremely pleased with Liza’s work, expressing her approval with a backhanded compliment: “Liza finally did something right!” On the other hand, Liza is even more repulsed when Poppy and Stephanie introduce cheap, fake feathered boas to the design.
Clint is disappointed when he expects Brandy, the only woman on his team, to be a valuable source of input on how best to market a fragrance for women. She’s got nothing: “I’m just not as feminine as the other women.” (That’s not the impression we got on Task 8, when she eagerly played sex kitten for the Donald J. Trump Signature menswear ad campaign). Fortunately, Steuart came through with the idea of building a see-through woman’s vanity, the kind a Hollywood starlet might have, to display the fragrance. Brandy, assigned by Clint to handle the graphics, develops banners, window displays, fragrance strips and an information brochure featuring images of Kardashian. In the meantime, Clint and Steuart handle construction of the vanity, which is designed to be backlit in pink and lavendar, the signature colors of the fragrance; and features video showcasing Kardasian and her scent and multiple displays of the fragrance bottle and logo.
The Result: Octane’s display looks like a high school crafts project. The only positive is that consumers can have their pictures taken with the life-size image of Kardashian. By contrast, Fortitude’s display is elegant and sophisticated, perfectly showcasing the fragrance and its muse–in fact, it’s store ready. There’s no contest–Fortitude wins the task.
Who I Would Have Fired: Poppy was sure that she understood the Kardashian brand. She couldn’t have been more wrong; Octane’s concept was so bad, it was comical. She was fired as soon as I saw Kardashian’s name spelled out in sequins. Blinded by her own bias and swayed by Stephanie, Poppy shut out the one person on her team who understood the brand and could have helped win the task: Liza.
Who Will Be The Next Apprentice?: Clint (2-0 as project manager) despite his blue-collar, country-boy ways, has been consistently impressive–or rather, impressively consistent. He’s likable enough to command respect, loyalty and cooperation from others, but does not hesitate to demand respect (ask David Johnson). Most
important, Clint fiercely defends his integrity, as he demonstrated when Mahsa Saeidi-Azcuy was fired after Task 7. Okay, so he may need an image makeover. But Clint has the substance, the smarts and the leadership ability to be The Apprentice. The competition is his to lose.
I once considered Stephanie (1-0), one of my Final 4 picks, to be the most impressive performer among the women candidates. However, her stock has plummeted over the past several weeks, thanks to her obsession with getting Liza fired (without being able to point to a single instance of her failing to come through on a task) and her apparent willingness to put her individual ambition ahead of team success. She’s clearly tough, smart and ambitious, but I can’t imagine her inspiring loyalty and cooperation as a leader.
Liza (0-1) has proven to be extremely intelligent, strategic, perceptive and goal-oriented, as might be expected of a proven entrepreneur. She can still win this thing, but she needs a clear, indisputable victory as project manager, and she has to get past Stephanie (whose been head-gaming her and the other women throughout this competition), both on tasks and in the boardroom. To become The Apprentice, she’ll have to express herself and communicate her strengths clearly and forcefully, without losing control of her emotions, especially when she’s under attack.
Despite having 1-0 records as project managers, Steuart and Brandy still have not impressed me, though Brandy could end up being the last woman standing if Liza and Stephanie end up taking each other out. I really like Steuart, and would love to have him on my team–I think I’d even enjoy serving as his mentor. (Lesson One: Don’t ogle the female co-workers, colleagues, staff or clients, no matter how attractive they are). He has the polish, good ideas and personality to be a valuable team player. Steuart just needs more seasoning before I’d put him in a leadership role.
Who do you choose for your Final 4? And who will be the next apprentice and why? Leave a comment and let’s talk about it!