The Apprentice: Sixteen budding entrepreneurs.. I've lost count of the number of times I've heard candidates claiming to have grown their own business "from nothing", pointing out how young they were when they started, what exceptionally hard workers they are, etc.
Yet when it comes down to the tasks, these supposedly intelligent, talented professionals fail to plan their tasks, wasting time arguing instead of trying to come up with more ideas or improve the ones they have. They conduct market research and then completely ignore it, and turn up to meetings with prospective clients without even sorting their figures out first!
I couldn't do what these people do: I'm not a salesperson, and I hate approaching strangers, especially if it is to push a product or pester them with a list of questions. I also hate arguing with people, and that seems to be one of the biggest parts of "business" as seen on The Apprentice. Arguing and shouting to be heard.. or shouting to drown out the other's voice.
If you have to shout at people to make them listen to your idea, they aren't actually interested in listening at all. They've either made their mind up already, or won't listen because you're not in their clique.
The bitching and shouting was the reason I wouldn't watch The Apprentice at first. I only ended up watching because I caught an episode towards the end of a series, when the most disruptive candidates had been kicked out, and the focus was brought more to the tasks.
This week's task was Household Gadget, and the teams ended up with a futuristic-looking kitchen compost compressor (a bin!) and a rather ineffective splash screen for the bath.
The girls took ages to come up with ideas during their planning stage, and eventually came up with a tap cosy and a splash screen for the bath. While the project manager, Jane, was quick to criticise the tap cosy, there was no real discussion of the pros and cons of the splash screen. Instead, the girls allowed themselves to get excited about their new product, instead of thinking about whether it was a good product..
My first thought about the splash screen was that it would make it much harder to reach and support a small child in the bath.. and a larger child should be starting to learn not to splash the entire bathroom anyway!
Another problem was raised later, during the pitches, when the man from Lakeland pointed out that children would likely draw on the bath as well as the screen.. something the team might have realised if they had discussed it a little more.
During the market research, the tap cosy came out as the better product. However, Jane did not want to make this product.. she hadn't liked the idea to begin with. She ignored the market research and pushed through the splash screen instead. When the prototype actually came out.. well.. it looked cheap, and from the girls quick test, it didn't stick properly to the side of the bath, and it certainly didn't prevent splashing!
Azhar, PM of the boys' team, disregarded both market research and his entire sub-team, and was also completely unapologetic at having wasted their time and efforts. Ignoring team members, or devaluing them like this, is stupid. It discourages effort and thought, because who wants to work hard on something that's going to be ignored anyway?
I wasn't really keen on either of the boys' ideas: gloves with scouring elements might be useful, but not really inspiring. As for the bin.. I couldn't imagine that it'd smell any better than a normal kitchen waste bin after a week or two, and quickly be hidden out of sight! Again, I heard no mention of how they might deal with problems with their product..
I'm getting used to seeing PMs ignore the research, or ignore an idea in favour of their own. Lately I watch them do it, and hope to see them put firmly in their place when they fail because of those bad decisions.
I think the PM assumes they'll win favour by claiming to have single-handedly come up with an idea, designed it and pitched it. None of these candidates are in it for anyone other than themselves, of course. I would imagine Lord Sugar sees past that, though.. a good leader should make use of their team's strengths, rather than try to undermine or compete with them.
So.. the teams make a mess of planning and researching their products. What else could they get wrong?
The figures.
Asking Amazon to place an order for a million units may not sound like a bad thing to most people.. but these candidates are already in business for themselves, so somebody amongst the team should have had an idea of a reasonable starting order.
The figures were worked out in the back of a car by a member of the team who admitted that she struggled with them. Why was she doing the figures when she wasn't capable, and when they are so important to the task? Why did nobody else check them?
These supposed professionals walked into a meeting with bad figures, and ended up looking stupid.. like so many teams before them.
Next week's episode is all about condiments.. the teams are to make their own, and from the clips I see we can expect to see at least one burnt mess!
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