This show is the most genius thing Trump’s ever done. Every episode was an hour-long ad for some business enterprise of his or another. He got his brand name out there like mad. During the lame “preview” of Apprentice 2, he mentioned they’ll be working with many top Fortune 500 companies this time around. Well, of COURSE they are! They’ve seen the advertising value of this show, and they want in! And Trump is more than willing to sell it to them.
Really, from his perspective, this is a weekly hour-long infomercial that people love watching for some reason. Sadly, I’m one of those people.
I think it was interesting that Bill & Kwame each had teams that were better suited for the other’s management style.
Kwame talks about surrounding himself with excellent people and giving them the space to excel. That was Bill’s team. Bill is obviously a bit of a micro-manager, which is exactly what Kwame’s team needed.
The key thing, though, is that Bill’s style is more flexible. I think he was a bit too hands-on in this task because there was so much at stake and he had never operated as a supervisor to them before. If he’s really talented and self-aware, he’ll be the type of manager who loosens the reins once a team member has proven themselves as trustworthy and reliable. Not all micro-managers, obviously, are like that, but there are still plenty who handle employees on case-by-case bases and adjust the level of follow-up according to what that employee needs to succeed.
However, someone who’s as laid-back and distant will have a much harder time learning to be more hands-on and confrontational. I don’t think Kwame needed to fire Omarosa (though that would’ve been the best strategy), but we never even saw him confront her. He was so incredibly passive that Omarosa clearly picked up on the fact that she could do whatever she wanted and Kwame would really do nothing.
The problem with Kwame is that his management style only works when you’re surrounded by competent people. Someone makes a mistake, and he (casually) brings it to their attention. A competent and reliable person will take the hint, identify and take ownership of the mistake, and do their best (on largely their own initative) to make sure it’s not repeated. An incompetent person will shift the blame, make excuses, and evade responsibility. A casual hint or passive-agressive guilt trip will not work. But that’s all Kwame had in his arsenal, and it turned out to be a disaster.
Good for Bill (and good choice on the Chicago tower, too).
You’re right on the money as far as Bill’s motivation – that’s exactly what he said on the Today show this morning (clips here, for those who missed it). He described how his staff was composed of 3 people who he’d helped orchestrate the termination of, and were now all operating as volunteers. He said he could not afford to allow them to sabotage his chance at winning this competition, and that he managed them based on advice he took directly from Trump’s book, wherein he advises that when you’re in that kind of situation, you “have to micromanage down to the paperclips,” which he did.
Trump also acknowledged that Katrina gave Bill a very difficult time in the beginning and that contrary to how Kwame handled Omarosa, Bill came down on her hard. That suggested to me that Bill had even more reason to micromanage them that we didn’t get to see because it was edited out. The right man definitely won this challenge.
The biggest problem with Kwame is that he seems to do things by the book, rather than thinking on his feet. He didn’t seem to be able to (God help me for saying this phrase) “think outside the box” when it came to the task. It took Trump suggesting that they go look for Jessica upstairs, it took Troy to see that Omarosa was up to no good. Worst of all, it never even occurred to him that he could fire Omarosa?!? Like someone else said, all it would take is a phone call to ask if he had that authority. And I don’t buy his “I don’t micromanage” bullshit either. That’s a cop-out. He’s lazy. That’s how I saw it.
I totally agree with Shayna about Bill making the right choice of job. When Trump said the 18th hole was practically floating out in the Pacific, I knew no one in their right mind would want that job. Plus, the new tower in Chicago is much more high-profile, which is going to be good for Bill’s career if/when he leaves Trump–as if winning this wasn’t enough for his career.
And stop picking on the golf clothes. Okay, he looked a little dorky, but all golfers do. Bill is damn sexy in his regular street clothes. DAMN sexy!
Man, I can’t believe I forgot to mention this earlier…
I don’t know about the rest of you, but when Omarossa took Kwame aside and criticized him for going too easy on Troy after Troy screwed up the breakfast, actually saying that he needed to come down harder on him (!!!), my irony meter stood up, jumped off the table, spun around three times, and exploded, taking out most of the neighborhood.
I definitely don’t think Kwame is lazy. He’s just stuck in the rut that he learned at Harvard. He thinks: micromanage = bad. He’s unimaginative, but not lazy. I do think he’s more teachable than Bill. I think Kwame could unlearn some of his Harvard stuff under Donald’s tutelage. I like Kwame better as a president. I like Bill better as a manager or supervisor.
I think Kwame is quite smart, Annie, but I agree with you about Bill. He always vaguely disturbed me for some reason, and last night when he was running around grimacing the horse-teeth at everyone, I finally figured out why. He looks like Jim Carrey getting ready to do Fire Marshall Bill without the makeup. While I think Carrey is very talented and pretty damn funny, I most certainly wouldn’t describe him as sexy.
Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaaaaa ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaaaa! Aaaaaaaahh! Huh.
And you all have to watch next season. I had a hand in getting one of the new contestants on. I produced his audition tape. (At least I’m pretty sure he’s going to make it. His tape worked, he’s done the long version interview.
Which is pretty impressive, since over 1 million people tried to get on.
