Lessons Learned

• The Good:

  • Honor and integrity:  Bryce deserves admiration and respect for the way he stood up to Trump and refused to do the usual "Apprentice" candidate move of blaming everyone else--although this is not necessarily the best strategy for surviving in Trump's boardroom. Bryce took responsibility for every decision he made as a leader. Good for him. More leaders need to stand up for their decisions and take responsibility versus letting their people take the rap. Bryce can go home with his head held high (and may well be entertaining job offers from companies who are looking for leaders who do the right thing!).

  • Identify strengths and weaknesses: Bryce acknowledged his creative limitations and put other team members in charge of creative roles. Know your limitations and your team's. Assign roles that allow people to bring their best talents to the project.

  • Heal the team: Bryce began with a team sit-down to address the dysfunctional interpersonal dynamics. He directed them to pay attention to each other's feelings (not something we hear enough from leaders). He wisely knew that in order for his team to perform well, they first needed to address and heal what wasn't working. Leaders need to learn the skills necessary to facilitate team dynamics and dialogue (getting a coach can help you learn those skills). The worst sin is to pretend that real interpersonal issues do not exist and plunge forward without addressing them. Inevitably, team performance will suffer unless the interpersonal dynamics and conflict are addressed.
     

• The Bad:

  • You get to make only one first impression: Gold Rush arrived almost a half-hour late to its meeting with the executives. This meeting was ultimately Bryce's responsibility and arriving on time should have been a priority. When challenged about being late, he gave the executives a lame line about not knowing when their meeting was to start. You can't afford this kind of rookie mistake in high-stakes business. First impressions count -- always.

  • Target the program to what the executives want: Gold Rush did not deliver a jingle that targeted what the executives communicated as their priority largely because Gold Rush didn't ask the right questions. That is a critical and surprisingly frequent mistake that internal and outside consultants/vendors make. They lose sight of what the customer or boss wants -- or worse yet, don't even ask. Don't leave the meeting until you are clear about what the customer wants.
     

• The Ugly:  Arrogance. Mensa member Tarek told his team he believed they feared he was the strongest candidate and therefore were trying to get rid of him. Needless to say, they nailed him for his arrogant assumptions. One of his teammates gave him specific feedback about his behavior (his tendency to roll his eyes and sigh at other people's ideas) that she deemed insulting. But his reaction to her feedback was insincere and sarcastic. Too bad. He might have learned something about how others are affected by his behavior.When someone is honest enough with you to share the impact your behavior has on them, pay close attention. There may be a nugget there that could affect your success.
   

• Listen to the client: The Gold Rush jingle wasn't bad, but it seemed a bit dated and didn't generate as much audience excitement. Even more important was the fact that the jingle failed to emphasize a key point - that "Chicken Naturals" were available only at Arby's. Missing this important point made it much easier for the Arby's executives to choose Synergy's jingle.
  
  The bottom line: One of the lessons that has resurfaced several times in "The Apprentice" series over the past two years is that it's important to listen to the client when developing any kind of promotion. This seems so obvious and so basic that it's almost unbelievable that any businessperson would ignore it.
   

• Give credit - and blame - where due: In the boardroom, Bryce was determined to defend the quality of his team's jingle - even though Synergy's ad was clearly preferred by the Arby's executives. His decision to fight to the bitter end caused him to be more argumentative with Trump than any "Apprentice" candidate in recent memory. The decision to go down with the ship also led to a poor choice when it came time for him to bring two of his teammates into the firing session. Instead of picking the two people who were most responsible for the production of the jingle - Tarek and Charmaine - he chose to pick the people who, in his opinion, had done the least. One of the people was Lee, who excused himself from the task completely due to a religious observance. The other was Lenny, who admitted that he knew nothing about jingles.
  
  The bottom line: Trump was correct in his assertion that Bryce had brought the wrong people into the firing session. Bryce's worst choice was in subjecting Lee to the firing session, even though Trump had previously made it clear that he was fine with the idea of letting people take time off for religious observances. A good leader needs to be able to honestly assess his/her organization's successes and failures and to assign the appropriate credit or fault with the right individuals. Bryce clearly has a lot to learn in this regard.

Endangered species list

Here are the people on this week's list, given the likelihood that they will incur Trump's wrath in the near future:

Commentary

Is anyone else is getting tired of the obvious flirting going on involving Sean, Allie and Roxanne. Allie and Roxanne gush pretty openly when they are in Sean's presence. A couple of weeks ago, when Synergy was preparing for the boardroom after losing a task, Allie and Roxanne sought comfort by cuddling with Sean on a bed. This week, when Synergy went to a victory dinner at a fancy restaurant, Allie and Roxanne seemed simply gaga about being seated next to Sean. For his part, Sean clearly enjoys playing the role of resident hunk.

True, Sean's a good-looking guy with a slick British accent, and both Allie and Roxanne are attractive young women. Perhaps it should not be surprising that this mutual admiration society has formed. However, this is a business competition on national TV. All three people need to be a bit more cognizant of how they are perceived by viewers, because they are very close to making spectacles of themselves. A little more professionalism is in order for all three of them. It will be interesting to watch what happens when the members of this love triangle are pitted against each other in the boardroom.