Lessons Learned

• The Good:

  • Marketing strategy that fits the target: Kudos to the men here; they designed a fun event with direct appeal to their target customer. First, their tactic to secure an exclusive deal showcasing the local team cheerleaders was smart. Second, their event promotion was smart; they covered the pep rally (passing out fliers and having their event endorsed by the announcer) and promoted the event at campus parties the night before (opportunities the women missed)

  • Your unique selling proposition: The women scored the touchdown on this one. They adapted with a last-minute sales strategy to deliver to their tailgating fans. How smart was this! Hungry fans don't want to wait in long food lines at a sporting event and miss the action. I also give them credit for thinking on their feet (they knew the men had out-promoted them) and recovering with a strategy that would set them apart.

  • Think big: Allie demonstrates impressive sales ability. She scored with a big sale (200 meals) to a large group attending the game. By my calculations, at $5 a meal, this sale is what won them the task.

  • Price right: The men priced low, thinking that most college students only carry around a "couple of bucks in their pockets." The women charged almost twice as much (still only $5) and generated more revenue as a result.
     

• The Bad:

  • Keep your focus on the objective: Although the men pulled off a great event, they lost sight of the goal to maximize revenue. Getting the word out is very important, but it means nothing if you fail to generate enough sales.

  • Don't give away your competitive edge: Michael lost sight of his overall objective to win the job. Giving away his team's competitive edge was just plain dumb, and he lost the big prize as a result. Trump is nothing if not a ruthless negotiator and competitor. If Michael's objective was to work for Trump, he surely should have known better than to demonstrate his willingness to give his competitors an edge. In his taxi ride home; Michael lamented his frustration with getting this far and being fired over "something so small." In business, it's often the small things that make the difference. A thoughtless line in an e-mail, a small commitment not honored, agreeing to language in a legal document you don't fully understand -- can all sink the ship.
     

• The Ugly: Sexual stereotyping: how many times in this episode did Trump make remarks about the cheerleaders? The minute his helicopter hit the ground, he was running off to see "what the cheerleaders look like." It got only worse from there. One of his final boardroom comments: "I learned a long time ago, when you have a cheerleader, you don't give her up." It pains me to watch the ultra-smart and professional Carolyn stand by her boss during these awkward moments in the boardroom. Shame on Trump for his chauvinistic comments. He perpetuates sexist gender stereotyping, which has no place in the workplace; in fact, following this path can be a road to ruin.
   

• Thinking Out of the Box: At the start of the task, things didn't look good for Synergy. Gold Rush got an exclusive agreement from the Rutgers cheerleaders to appear at the Gold Rush tailgate party. Synergy was too late with its pitch to the cheerleaders. Gold Rush had its promotional fliers ready to go in time for the pep rally the day before the game. Synergy had no fliers. So, how did Synergy win? It really boiled down to an idea that came to the Synergy team almost as an afterthought - delivering food to different venues at the football stadium. Once they decided to deliver, they were able to gain several large sales.

  The bottom line:  Even though it wasn't part of the team's original strategy, Synergy ended up adopting an unconventional tactic that paid big dividends. The team members deserve some credit for realizing that they needed to avoid head-to-head competition. Gold Rush won the event battle, but Synergy won the sales battle.
   

• Don't Give Away the Store: After the Rutgers cheerleading coach had given Gold Rush an exclusive agreement to have the cheerleaders appear at the Gold Rush tailgate party, Synergy contacted the coach to make a similar arrangement. The coach started to weaken and wanted to send some cheerleaders to the Synergy event. Michael accepted that idea, but Sean and Lee were emphatic in holding the coach to her previous deal. Eventually, the cheerleaders only appeared at the Gold Rush event, but Michael's willingness to relinquish the team's exclusive advantage ended up being disastrous for him in the boardroom.

  The bottom line: The appearance of the cheerleaders was a key element of the Gold Rush strategy for drawing people to its tailgate party. The team had worked hard, and quickly, to secure an exclusive agreement. Michael should not have been so casual about dissipating the Gold Rush competitive advantage.

Rankings

Michael is gone and only five candidates remain. Here is the new ranking of the candidates, based on the likelihood that they will eventually be hired by Trump.

1. Lee (Gold Rush): He still rates as the number one candidate, even though he is now batting .667 as a project manager after this week, for two reasons. First, he took the initiative to take a third turn as project manager, when he really didn't need to do so. Both Sean and Michael had only been project managers once before, so it would have been reasonable for one of them to be the leader this week. Second, Lee is not afraid to take risks. More often than not, his sales instincts are sound. He has a lot more entrepreneurial potential than any of the remaining candidates.

2. Sean (Synergy): He made a good move in switching from Synergy to Gold Rush. Roxanne and Allie felt he had betrayed them two tasks ago by supporting Andrea in the boardroom before she was fired. He has one victory as project manager

3. Allie (Synergy): She has one victory and one loss as a project manager, but was more responsible for Synergy's win this week than anybody else. It was her idea to start food deliveries instead of trying to match the Gold Rush tailgate party event for event.

Allie also gets a gold star this week for coming up with the idea for food delivery.

4. Tammy (Synergy): Like Allie, she's batting .500 as a project manager, but she doesn't seem to have as much leadership potential as Allie.

5. Roxanne (Synergy): She now has two wins and no losses as a project manager, but she really didn't seem to be much of a leader either time. One could have easily thought that Allie was the project manager this week and not Roxanne.

Commentary

Even though the rankings show the chances that each candidate has of eventually being chosen as Trump's protégé, the gaps between the candidates are small. No candidate is blowing away the competition.

On the plus side, there is some suspense left in the season, even after 11 weeks. At this time last season, Randal had a hammer lock on the top position and he looked really tough to beat. This season, Lee, the top-ranked candidate, has a tenuous grip - at best - on the top position.

The final task has the potential to be pretty dramatic, especially if Trump exercises his option to bring back a subset of fired candidates as helpers. For example, it would be fascinating if one of the finalists had to take on Brent as a teammate for the final task. As controversial as he was during his time on the show, his reemergence could provide considerable entertainment value and he could have a big influence on the outcome of the season.