Season 6 - The Apprentice - Week 4
Week Four: "El Pollo Loco"
Recap: Both teams were back in action this past week on The Apprentice! Yeah! Mr. Trump asked someone from Kinetic (The Winning Team up to this point) to join the other team. Surya went without much of a fight. I thought that was great. He has enough trust in himself and believes that he could be a positive influence on Arrow, the losing team! That spoke volumes to me. When Surya arrived outside in tent city he gave some tidbits of wisdom and they went to sleep.
The task for Week 4 was to create, promote and sell a new original version of the Pollo Bowl. The team who sold the most wins. Kinetic began poorly in my opinion. Marissa was given the responsibility to come up with a marketing strategy for the teams original Pollo Bowl. Her ideas were shot down and rather than come up with additional suggestions, Marissa attempted to force the team to see her way. She came off as rigid and unwilling to listen. Heidi in my opinion appeared equally rigid, but given her track record for winning, and she was the project manager, she had no problem making a decision and communicating that decision to the rest of the team.
Aaron, project manager for Arrow, has a great leadership style in my opinion. His team won this task, moving Kinetic out of the mansion and into tent city. What I like about Aaron is his willingness to take a risk. He sent two of his team members out of the restaurant and into the community to find a large or bulk order for their Pollo Bowl. By virtue of sending those two team members out on a risky mission, he decreased his staff in the restaurant by two. Had they been unsuccessful, it would have surely ensured defeat for his team.
In the end Arrow won, Kinetic lost and Marissa was fired. I absolutely disagree with Mr. Trump’s decision to fire Marissa. She was definitely annoying to her team, she appeared rigid and limited in her ability to come with additional ideas. What really killed her and ultimately got her fired was her inability to listen in the boardroom. Who should of have been fired this week? In my opinion - Heidi. There, I said it. No one else in America may agree with me, but I think winning went to her head and she failed her teammates by not allowing Marissa the space to create. She did not create an environment for the one person that could have made all the difference in the task, to take it to another level - to be creative. If Marissa had been allowed to put the two chickens on the corners, it may have failed. At that point, Heidi has what I call valid data to support terminating her marketing project manager. Marissa was bothersome to her teammates, she was annoying, but prior to that task, she was one of them. At least based on what we saw as viewers.
Lessons You Can Use:
1. The Principle of Liking, according to Robert Cialdini says that "people do business with people they like." Marissa was not well liked after this task and in the end, she paid a heavy price. The entire team except one I believe said they would fire her. If people do not like you when you are interviewing, you will not get very far in the hiring process."Smile! It increases your face value!"
2. Taking calculated risk can make all the difference between winning and losing in every game of life. Aaron would have surely been fired if his team had lost the task, given his decision to send two people out to find a large order. It paid off for him. Playing it safe, may ensure some level of success, but it will not get you to the top. Average people, with minimal vision play it safe. My only warning about taking risk would be: Be willing to accept all the consequences for the risk you take. Don’t blame others. If it doesn’t work out, learn from it and keep moving.
Side Note:
I was very impressed with Aaron again this week. I would say he is my early pick for winning The Apprentice - season 6. We’ll see! I thought I would jump out on a limb and cast an early vote for him. More to come, more to see, but if he wins at least I will have bragging rights for saying it today!
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POSTED IN: Coach's Cornor, Preparation & Planning, The Apprentice 6, The Interview
1 opinion for Season 6 - The Apprentice - Week 4
Tough Questions? Great Answers! » Blog Archive » Season 6 - THe Apprentice - Week 7
Mar 5, 2007 at 1:00 am
[…] I have very few words this week. This episode of The Apprentice, made me question why I even watch the show. Once again, the show was poor. Why? Because the players, the people interviewing for this job have very little to offer. Especially in the area of integrity, teamwork and fair play. Derek’s comments at the beginning of the show and the end of the show were completely inappropriate. His exact comment, "Regardless of what Jennifer does on the task, I will gun for Jennifer and get rid of her." What is that? I am not shocked that he felt that way, I was shocked that he said it out loud. Clearly it was his strategy throughout the show, from the beginning of the season, see week 4. […]
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