# The Apprentice -- 11/10/05 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2005, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-11-10-05/330513 "2005-11-11T02:10:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![vertizontal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/ad7895/32.png) [@vertizontal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vertizontal)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-11-10-05/330513/41 "2005-11-13T13:35:47Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > My guess on Marshawn: > > I think she thought she was being strategic. The team was seeing their production in the flesh, and no one could miss how utterly _ordinary_ it was. You see the equivalent at the local Blockbuster every week of the year. > > So, her thinking went: we’re going to lose. It’s mainly Brian’s fault already, but if HE has to do the presentation, he’ll also get the brunt of whatever bad vibes come from that. > > The reason I say that is that she very clearly wanted to force Brian into doing the presentation. It was all “he’ll do a better job”, not “Who else wants to do it?” or asking Randall or Rebecca if they wanted to take over. She wanted to avoid doing it herself AND have Brian do an obviously bad job at it. > > Too bad, chickie. Trump admires guts and take-charge and follow-through. Failed attempts at back-stabbing your project leader? Not so much. I think all this underscores a concept that Marshawn and others (especially in the previous 2 seasons) don’t understand is that **game strategy doesn’t work**. It just doesn’t work here to avoid doing something so that someone else might look bad. You simply must contribute all you can, do what’s asked of you, be creative, play nice with others, and have a positive attitude throughout. In other words, show how you would be a good employee. That being said, I’m not so sure that Marshawn was using strategy here. I just think that since she wasn’t that familiar with Star Wars, she was “uncomfortable” doing the presentation about the movie. We’ve seen that many of the candidates in every season are very successfuly in their own specific business back home, but are hopelessly inept when asked to do something outside of their very narrow comfort zone. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-11-10-05/330513/42 "2005-11-13T17:13:04Z")
> [@vertizontal](#): > > I just think that since she wasn’t that familiar with Star Wars, she was “uncomfortable” doing the presentation about the movie. We’ve seen that many of the candidates in every season are very successfuly in their own specific business back home, but are hopelessly inept when asked to do something outside of their very narrow comfort zone. This may be so, but it still bothers me that Marshawn was so insistent on BRIAN being the one to do the presentation. Because, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t they show plainly that Brian knew zip about Star Wars? He had to have Randall do the minirecaps of the entire saga for him, tell him who the characters were, etc. So if Marshawn’s thinking went, ‘Somebody who knows more about SW than me should do the presentation’, then the LAST person on the team to chose would be Brian. She should have been saying that RANDALL should do it. And her replies in the boardroom went the same way: she wanted Brian to do it because ‘he would do a better job’ – despite the fact that Trump said, and Brian enthusiastically agreed, that Brian was a hopeless presenter. And then she claimed that she would have been a better presenter than Rebecca…but, nonetheless, didn’t say “Okay, if Brian won’t do it, I will” when Rebecca volunteered. I’m sorry, to me it all says that Marshawn wanted Brian to do the presentation to make doubly sure that he was the obvious bootee. ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2005, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-11-10-05/330513/43 "2005-11-13T17:32:20Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > That’s puzzling, isn’t it? Why would he want to work for Trump? In the real world, though, impressive credentials don’t always equal a huge salary or even an impressive position. It could be simply that he recognizes his own greatness but needs a big break in the working world. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-apprentice-11-10-05/330513.md?page=2)