The Apprentice 2 Weekly Performance Review, Episode 12: I'd Like to Buy the World a... Pepsi?

Sandy: You and Jen arguing over who came up with the promotion idea is about as stupid as the contestants on My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss arguing about who came up with Scuba Sandy. It's not smart, because it was a losing idea! It's not exactly a great argument to say "I'm more creative, see, I came up with the idea the marketing people hated!" In fact, it could have gotten you fired! It's not that you didn't come up with ideas… you didn't come up with GOOD ideas. Ask Ivana about that one.

I'm not going to say you did a horrible job this week, because no one on your team did well. Historically, though, of the three of you, I thought you most deserved to go home. You just don't have a proven track record. Andy and Jen can at least point to past victories. And WHY did you not bring up how glad Apex was to be rid of Jen? That would have been my opening salvo!

Lastly, I'll forgive the presentation fiasco - going into a situation like that is bound to fluster even the most polished speaker (although, ahem, it didn't fluster Andy. If anything, it keyed him up). But it's definitely something you should work on.

Andy: Well, I'll be darned. You didn't get fired for being too young after all. And, much as I love you as a player, one could make a very good argument that you deserved to be fired this week. You DID have a bad week as leader. Withholding food wasn't a good idea. People get more cranky and less productive the hungrier they get. Now, had a similar tactic been used by Raj in the real estate task, he might have been praised for it. But those were unproven contractors, and these were experienced workers provided by Pepsi to help you with your task. In addition, the $100 incentives were something else all together. Had that been me, I would have found it condescending. I would have pocketed the money, to be sure, but I would have rolled my eyes, it wouldn't have made me work any harder. I've found that what motivates people best is confidence, in yourself and in them, as well as appreciation. Giving them cash while holding back their food sent the wrong message.

Now, the positives. You've got an incredible energy and an unstoppable drive to succeed. There's nothing more dangerous in the business world than an executive who is motivated to prove himself (or herself). You had that motivation. What stopped you this week was a simple bad idea. Hey, not all ideas are golden. Look at the sponsor this week - Crystal Pepsi, anyone? No matter how smart you are, or how successful, you're going to have an idea flop now and then. Business history is filled with bad ideas from successful corporations: EuroDisney, New Coke, the Edsel, FedEx's "Zip Mail" service (remember that? We call it "faxing" now.), Trump's casinos, and on and on and on. My (belabored) point is this - don't let one bad idea slow you down. Instead of going on the offensive against Sandy (or at least BEFORE doing so) you should have defended yourself a bit more. Bring up your successes of the past, and point out that you're not going to let one bad idea stop you.

Should you have been fired? Maybe. Should you have been fired for "letting the women stomp you into the ground?" Absolutely not. All they did is out-scream you. Which, to be honest, is another thing you didn't point out to Trump. In any case, I probably would have done the same thing in your case, patiently wait for an opportunity to calmly present your rebuttal. Nothing is ever solved when two people shout over each other! If Trump admires that sort of "debate," then I sure as hell don't want to work there! Rather, I believe Trump and the producers saw Sandy and Jen at each other's throats and wanted to keep the dramatic pair rather than the steady, less interesting, talented one. As I said, I didn't have a problem with you being fired, but the reason given was a load of crap.

Mike DeGeorge has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from Christian Brothers University in Memphis, and has almost ten years of management experience. He is also Associate Editor of RNO. Email Mike at mikmaria@charter.net.

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