Lessons From The Apprentice (5.15)

Watching the final episode I’m always looking for someone to crash and burn. It’s not yet happened, but Lee came about as close to it as one possibly can and still survive. Saved, only by the Leary foundation holding Lee’s hand all the way through.

What Went Wrong for Sean:

Sean didn’t spend enough time with his team overseeing the details. A bit too much was delegated with no oversight. Fortunately, about the only thing that went wrong for Sean was that there was no banner representation for Pontiac, which the Pontiac exec noted more than once.

What Went Right for Sean:

Just about everything. Andrea came back from the doctors with only a minor issue. The event came together nicely, they earned a good amount of money and everybody had fun.

What Went Right for Lee:

All said and done, the event worked. But I don’t think Lee can call it his success.

What Went Wrong for Lee:

Clearly overwhelmed, unorganized, and unable to really put together a workable event, Lee needed considerable hand holding by the Leary execs. At no time did Lee seem to get any help from his team. I think Roxanne’s greatest contribution was that she kept her mouth shut and did nothing. Lenny almost did more harm than good.

The Decision:

I hate these live finale’s, ever since the very first season. However, at a short 1.5 hours, this finale was the best of them all, primarily because they cut out all the nonsense of the past seasons.

The choice was pretty clear, and I find it hard to believe that Trump hadn’t pretty much made up his mind before tonight. I’m sure he’s had time to review the tapes and see the train wreck that Lee nearly ran into.

OK, so let’s assume that Trump did know, but for good TV he kept an open mind. So he goes through the process to see if anything comes up to change his mind. Did it?

It didn’t take me long to get disgusted with the “they’re both great” answers everybody was providing. Don, Ivanka, George, all gave that lame answer. Only Caroline came close enough to having any balls and just saying that Sean clearly deserved to win.

All this fawning over Lee made me sick. He is in no way Apprentice material and I think that became clear in the end when Trump announced that the viewer results were skewed so far in favor of Sean. I would have loved it he announced those numbers, but the “Save Lee from Reality” campaign prevented that from happening.

Did you notice which candidates stood showing their vote for Lee? All the weak ones showed support for Lee while the strongest candidates supported Sean. That says a lot.

Look, Lee is obviously a nice guy and he made some friends, but the fact that nobody wanted to be honest with him will ultimately hurt him more than help. If Lee wants to grow, he needs to understand why he lost and also understand that it was not a close race. It’s a hard truth that nobody was willing to say, but it’s still the truth. A truth that Lee was deprived of.

What is the best part of this season? Sean got the job and the girl! Yeah, he earned it!

Lessons Learned:

• Seek Counsel: There is nothing wrong with being unsure between two choices. Seeking counsel can help bring up points and ideas, pros and cons that perhaps you hadn’t thought of. While you ultimately will reject some counsel over others, getting that counsel will help you make the right choice… or at least clarify your decision in your own mind.
• Be decisive: If the right choice is clear, be willing to say what you believe. It’s not about saving feelings or putting on a show of “considering”, although sometimes that has its place, an easy decision left undecided only serves to make you appear unsure and indecisive.