OK, kicking off my analysis of the Apprentice and the progress of the contestants. I was pretty excited to see it sitting there in my " Now Playing" list of Tivo. I was concerned that a lot of the hour and a half show would be filled with fluff (like them explaining the game...yeah, yeah, we got it!). They kept the fluff to a minimum. Speaking of fluff, I'm starting to get used to the Donald's hair. That scares me deeply.
The producers start building the tension by showing the contestants (players, candidates, victims..what should we call them?) coming into the waiting area. Clearly they are not allowed to speak to each other. They all have their games faces on (lighten up people...this isn't a scowling contest). Trust me...nobody is scared of you because of the look on your face. And the contestants get their first opportunity to say something really unfortunate like " I'm not one to pre-judge, but". Oh, and leisure suit guy (we'll soon come to know this is Danny. Please, no, no! Please don't. Robyn, please tell him he has to go home and change (like they make you do in high-school if you've dressed inappropriately). Bren refers to himself as the "little guy with a big mouth" (posturing, posturing and more posturing...this is the role I am going to play, now check me out...I'm the little guy with the big mouth). Um yeah, and the guy who said the thing about women being pampered....zip it! They all go into the board room and the Donald explains the instructions to them. They all seem excited about the new set-up and don't seem to mind that they are being stereo-typed by America right this second. The book smarts kids seem to be excited about playing a team without their pedigrees and the street smarts kids seem to be pretty excited about being the under-dog (although I think the underdog thing is going to be played out very quickly...as soon as we start to not like some of them). And that''s going to happen in 3-2-1...
In the penthouse, squealing ensues that makes my ears bleed while the contestants figure out which team they are on. And the posturing continues, but only by the slow learners that don't realize that the people who position themselves as the leader off the bat have a big target on their back(s). I definitely feel like the Street Smarts kids (soon to be renamed) are psyching themselves up real good. Pride cometh before the fall...or something. And the gal who went to law school for 2 years before she figured out how much lawyers make..hello! It took you 2 years to figure that out?
And now I start to be bothered by someone. In record time the "buckle your chin strap"/"brass bawls" guy officially deletes any possibility that anyone will take him seriously (he'll do more of this later). Gross. And the language on this team...how much are you drinking? It's just day one...pace yourselves!
So as not to put the street smarts kids at a disadvantage, Danny starts to sing and now I am starting to not like someone else so much. Um, I just don't know what to say except that I hope that the guitar mysteriously disappears soon. Then, all I can think is that this guy is going to be around for a while because he's annoying everyone and that makes good television. Everybody sing...or roll your eyes so hard that your iris totally disappears.
On the bright side, the teams did a good job of someone up with names. That "mosaic" baloney from last year was traffic. See, these people did learn something.
And now we are on the roof and Verna gets the first Trump compliment (which I will refer to from here on out as a Trumpliment), when she tells the Donald that she would be embarrassed if anyone kicks her butt, regardless of whether they have a degree. Trump likes quick thinkers and Verna's stock rises. They get their task
Blah,blah, blah, each team selects a smooshy burger thing to market. Verna tells her team that she is a fast-food expert because she eats it. I think she probably got tired of the people debating the burgers and had to establish some kind of authority to get a decision made, which is good. Because we all know that eating something and marketing it are 2 different things. Now from a business perspective, let me point out that selecting your product is not the challenge here, marketing is. So the teams should be picking what they think they can market well. But all these burgers kind of look similar, so they just need to find something and go with it.
Todd- team lead for Magna- sits at a table and plans while his team does the work. He's already delegated marketing. So he should put on an apron and start slapping some cooked cow on a bun or at least start watching his team to see how they interact and observe strengths, possible issues (like the ones we will see soon).
John- team lead for NetWorth-likes to make sweeping statements that prove his leadership (but it seems to be working so he should go with it) and when they come up with a cliché' campaign off the bat, I think it's either their undoing or their...um...doing I guess?
Brian (Brass Bawls guy...I'm sorry...I know that's crass, but he said it, not me) starts explaining his value on this tasks relative to his experience with balloons and "bagged costumes". Wow...and then he negotiates a viking helmet for free. The only way he is going to get to be a project manager is if his team wants him to fail and go to the boardroom. I definitely see his credibility issue growing.
The most "painful-to-watch" moment of the show: Danny and Stephanie meeting with Russ, VP of Product Development from Burger King. The mistakes made by the teammates here are too numerous to detail. Let me just point out 3:
1) Don't tell Russ that you don't have time to do customer research. His team developed the product. He should have research on the market or at least the customer need they were looking to satisfy when they developed the product. Flip it around and ask him what data inputs they used for product development.
2)Understand the value proposition. All the of marketing ideas Danny came up with were based around "3" or triple. That is not part of the value proposition. Either focus on the cheese or focus on the Angus and figure out why that is an important product feature to your target customer.
3) Danny, you'll never be a leader if you shoot down people's ideas without at least hearing them out. You are too quick to dismiss.
The Networth team comes to their meeting with Russ prepared. The word "western" in the product name gives them something to work with. This is a good launching point for their conversation with Russ. The purchasing of the airline tickets and the doggy potty scene...to painful...I just can't. The fact that the prize is really an e-ticket is unfortunate (it's a little unceremonious to hand someone an etecket...don't ya think?), but as we see, it doesn't matter.
John tries to fire up the regular Burger King employees by telling them that none of the NetWorth team has their college degrees. Not so great attempt at building employee loyalty and the regular BK employees kind of shrug and laugh at John a little.
Danny proves that even if you are successful, you can be the kind of person people avoid on the street. The guitar, the ping pong ball, the carnage. I start to feel sorry for average passers by on the street that crane their necks trying to avoid eye contact. I believe that Carolyn refers to this as both "sad" and "horrific" and that's a lot of adjectives to pile on one person in a single show.
Blah, blah, blah...the day progresses and Magna can't keep up with sales because they don't have enough trained folks at POS. Oh, and Erin is acting very silly for a lawyer.
Fast forward to the boardroom and NetWorth wins. Todd brings in Alex and Danny. Trump looks directly into the camera and tells the audience that he'll milk the ratings for a few more weeks before firing Danny (OK, so he didn't actually say it out loud).
Nuggets of wisdom from this show:
1) Nobody cares about strategy if you can't execute. As a leader, you have to be present and think through your sales cycle and mentally troubleshoot potential roadblocks.
2) Sometimes, what you think is the problem (like poor marketing), masks the bigger problem (like poor execution at POS). A great leader diagnoses the symptoms. After the fact, it's too late.
3) You have to do the job you have. Your role as a leader is to lead, not just win. Winning is what happens when everyone does their job well. But you can't skip ahead to the win unless you've done your job.
4) Generating pity does not play well in the boardroom
So Todd is fired. So whose stock went up and whose stock went down on this show?
Up, Up, Up
Kendra-she diagnosed the problem with her team as being a leadership issue. She didn't get emotionally involved
John-overall good job leading his team
Down, Down, Down
Danny-he will never represent the Donald. Makes for interesting watching but some of it is a little painful. Didn't own his mistakes. Not self critical. Concerns about his judgment.
Brian-he won't have the support from his team to lead. He's said too many things that have impacted his credibility
Next week...a candidate walks off! Whee! So what did you guys think of this week's episode? How are you feeling about the contestants?
(Couple programming notes here..I created a category for the Apprentice and I won't be posting these to the aggregated msdn or asp.net sites. I'll try to keep it shorter next time. This being the first episode and 1.5 hours, I may have gotten a little carried away).
