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Road Warriors Rev Up for the
Challenge
Mr. Trump gathered
the candidates on the 80th floor of his luxurious Trump World Tower to
assign a lofty
task: "To create a GM Corporate Retreat
event to introduce the 2007 Chevy Tahoe to attending dealer-owners." The
rugged truck has been tricked out this year with a new veneer of luxury, and
the corporations likewise had the opportunity for reinvention.
Synergy needed to rebound from the double firing of
Pepi and
Stacy, and entrepreneur
Andrea leapt to the challenge of leading
the troubled corporation, declaring that "Mr. Trump's going to know I'm a
hell of a project manager if I can manage
Brent." Meanwhile, Gold Rush's stewardship
fell into the capable and confident hands of Chicago real estate maven and
psychotherapist,
Theresa.
Corporate Retreats and Corporate
Retreating
Synergy's
Andrea marginalized
Brent with busywork and the corporation
swiftly brainstormed a big idea for the refined and rugged Chevy Tahoe.
"Nature Refined" was their catch-all concept to build their event around.
Rock climbing, fly-fishing and skeet shooting were planned, but when the
shooting proved too dangerous
Synergy improvised. "Andrea is a genius,"
gushed
Sean. "The skeet shooting falls through and
she's immediately thinking of the next plan: Golf Cart Racing." And this
substitute event proved to be a big hit with the dealers.
The road to Gold Rush's corporate retreat was much bumpier.
Lenny openly challenged fellow Jews
Dan and
Lee for skipping the task to celebrate the
Jewish holiday. Un-Orthodox Lenny also created dissenion when he criticized
PM
Theresa in an interview: "I wish her brain
was bigger than her boobs."
Tarek was chosen as creative point man, but
he grew frustrated by Theresa's failure to choose a unifying theme. As a
result, Gold Rush's event was a hodge-podge that included
setup snafus, an off-color comedian, uninformed
spokes-models, and a mini golf course that looked terrible.
Making a Big Splash, One Way or
Another
The Chevy dealers graded Synergy's retreat higher, earning the corporation a
thrilling reward at Long Island's Atlantis Marine World. "Mr. Trump said
that in business, sometimes you have to swim with the sharks," said
Tammy. "And today that's exactly what we're
doing." Literally. Synergy went face to face with the 12-foot predators in
an underwater cage that made
Brent, for one, nervous about
winding up as shark bait.
Allie didn't see it as a problem. "I just
hope the sharks like Brent. I'd love for us to be able to get rid of him,"
she joked.
Sean saw the reward as a great way to build
corporate cohesion: "It was a nice way to pat each other on the back and
say, 'Job well done.'"
Meanwhile, someone on Gold Rush was due to make a splash with the sharks in
the boardroom.
Sometimes Too Much IS Too Much
In the boardroom,
Theresa ascribed Gold Rush's defeat to
failures of individual execution (Lenny)
and creative thinking (Tarek).
"She's a good sergeant, she's not a good general,"
was Tarek's take on Theresa, while Lenny
was less diplomatic, labeling her a "disaster."
Bill Rancic's private assessment to
Mr. Trump was that "Theresa fumbled the
ball with planning this event," while
Carolyn was more critical of Tarek's
creativity and follow-though.
In the final boardroom, Gold Rush's tussling trio faced Trump and his
advisors who swiftly cut to the chase. Though Lenny had failed to secure a
needed generator and Tarek's golf event was admittedly shabby, Theresa's
scattershot leadership was most responsible for an unfocused event that
included horse and buggy rides, an open bar and a golf contest. Trump told
Theresa that her biggest mistake was
not bringing Charmaine back to the boardroom,
since it was
Charmaine who had hired an offensive
comedian as well as the woefully uninformed spokes-models.
"The concept was no good," Trump concluded. "You had so many things going
on.
Theresa, you're fired."
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