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Lessons From the Apprentice (1.2): Sex, Lies and Altitude

The Task

The teams are to create (at minimum) a TV commercial and magazine ad to market the Marquis Jet card.

While Amy goes to meet with company execs, the rest of the women were left without instructions or a plan of action. The girls begin to build an advertising campaign without clear instruction or leadership. The guys pretty much take the same approach as their leader, Jason, doesn’t feel that they need to meet with the execs at all.

Presenting to the execs, the women dress as flight attendants. An excellent marketing ploy! While the women went with a extremely sexually suggestive campaign, I’d have to admit the images and slogans they used were extremely effective in that regard, but not necessarily right for the product. And I’m not quite sure they got the point across of what they were actually selling.

The guys had a solid presentation but I think the ads needed quite a bit of polish. They certainly were not as ballsy as the women were. While the execs didn’t like the campaign, they liked the bigness that the women showed.

The Candidates

Apprentice 1 - Amy Amy:
W2: Seemed AWOL as team leader. Maybe it was just the editing of the show, but aside from meeting with the execs she seemed to have no particular input on the task. She seems smart and classy, but where is the leadership?
Apprentice 1 - Bill Bill:
W1: Shows himself to be smart and funny. Addresses flaws in others and the team in a professional/friendly way, doesn’t come off as a complainer.
W2: Take charge, no nonsense, yet laid back.
Apprentice 1 - Bowie Bowie:
Apprentice 1 - David David:
W1: Definitely not a sales person. His tactics are tacky and annoying. Doesn’t seem to know when to quit. When asked if he could have done better by Trump he answered “no”. Not apprentice material!
Fired Week 1
Apprentice 1 - Ereka Ereka:
W1: Very upbeat despite setbacks. Very positive about her team, despite some of the backbiting and arguing. Seems real solid.
Apprentice 1 - Heidi Heidi:
Apprentice 1 - Jason Jason:
W2: A bit gung ho and doesn’t see the big picture. Doesn’t appear to know how to lead, seems out of his depth.
Apprentice 1 - Jessie Jessie:
Apprentice 1 - Katrina Katrina:
Apprentice 1 - Kristi Kristi:
Apprentice 1 - Kwame Kwame:
W1: Gets things done. He may not have chose the best location, but he is the one who arranged all the free stuff.
Apprentice 1 - Nick Nick:
W1: Starts himself off as one of the first naysayer, complaining about the name the guys’ team chose. Nick strikes me as one of those guys that has a negative opinion about most everything.
W2: A bit overly defensive, takes going to the boardroom a bit too personally.
Apprentice 1 - Omarosa Omarosa:
W1: Starts out taking charge of her team, very forward and aggressive.
W2: Omarosa is just straight up bossy. She wants to be in control and doesn’t like when she doesn’t have others following or doing things her way. She is an extremely selfish person. She does have a smartness about her. Given the task of present a campaign she openly disagreed with, she backed it up 100% with the execs.
Apprentice 1 - Sam Sam:
W1: Seems to be a doer but not necessarily grounded in reality, trying to sell a cup of lemonade for $1000. Sam comes across as more desperate than anything else.
W2: Gets in the way. Makes things more complicated than they need to be. He didn’t just fall asleep on the job, he flat out laid down and took a nap. Talk about putting yourself in a position to get fired! Doesn’t know when to stop or shut up.
Apprentice 1 - Tammy Tammy:
W1: Even before anything begins Tammy is showing extreme business dysfunction. While nobody should really care about having to impress anybody but Trump, as she stats, in business, you’ve got to get along, and if you want to succeed, you need people who’ll stand behind you. She doesn’t seem to be interested in making friends whatsoever. On the first task she’s not showing herself to be a team player.
W2: Doesn’t seem to have much business sense in regard to appropriateness, but charges full steam ahead.
Apprentice 1 - Troy Troy:
W1: Despite being team leader, Troy didn’t leave much of an impression other than he’s a good guy.
W2: Troy is a natural motivator and while maybe not a great leader, he does lead quite naturally.

Fired: Jason

Lessons Learned

  • Know your task. There is no better way to know what is expected of you than by meeting with the people who hired you. You’ve got to get their input and direction if you want to succeed.
  • Sometimes you’re in a lose-lose situation and you just got to deal with it. Take the lesser of two evils and make the best of it.
  • Don’t take business too personally. You won’t always like what people say about you, but just stand tall and continue to do your best. Be confident and you’ll succeed.

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