The Apprentice 3: Why Brian Lost

Now that we’ve beaten the card metaphor into the ground, what does the fifth rule say? “Play well with others, but stay professional.” Oy. Brian did neither of these. While Brian, in his delusional world, might have thought that he and Trump were very similar, the fact is that, as the rule says, “Trump doesn’t need somebody who will cause tension and problems in the ranks.” Brian definitely did that.

What’s worse is that if Brian had been nicer, there was at least one other person he could have blamed – Kristen. There is a reason Kristen was called the “Alien Queen” by RealityNewsOnline’s recapper when she had been on Murder in Small Town X. She has lost none of the charm that made her the villain of that show, and she drove several other teammates crazy with her yelling and attitude during this challenge. Brian could have used that to his advantage, if he hadn’t been driving everybody crazy with his yelling and attitude! Kristen turned out to be the lesser of two evils, and that is saying something!

The sixth rule is to focus on the long-term, and again Brian failed. He was so focused on winning this one challenge that he lost sight of the big picture, which is to stay around as long as possible. He became so caught up in this one challenge that, as we’ve already discussed, he became impossible as a Project Manager.

Seventh is to think outside the box, but not too far. Brian was not exactly what we would call an outside-the-box thinker. He saw a couple broken toilets, so he replaced them all. He wanted something done, so he yelled about it. I saw no hints of creativity in him.

Contrast this with Magna, who held a party for their guests. Is that something a hotel would normally do? Probably not. But for this task, when they were being rated on a variety of aspects, it was a brilliant idea.

So how did Brian do on the eighth rule, against being one-dimensional? Poorly. Indeed, the only dimension we saw of Brian was acting as a steamroller. Maybe he was a good negotiator. Maybe he got the toilets and contractors for a good price. Yippee for him. While he was doing that, he blew everything else.

Finally, we come to the rule that says to use common sense. I don’t think Brian would know common sense if it bit him on the arse.

Common sense says a leader cannot simply bowl over his entire team, but actually has to listen to them, assign them to specific tasks, and oversee those tasks. Brian did assign at least some people to tasks, but then ignored them when they wanted to discuss their issue.

Common sense says a leader should not admit to one of the judges that he has lost control of his team. Yet when George came to visit the motel, Brian told him, “Right now, I am the team,” and proceeded to discuss how everybody was mad at him. Brilliant strategy.

Common sense says you shouldn’t lie about things that have been seen on-camera. As we’ve previously mentioned, Brian did that.

Common sense says you shouldn’t drop the f-bomb at the dinner table with Donald Trump, or in the Boardroom with Donald, George, and Carolyn. Brian did both.

Of course, common sense says you shouldn’t walk into the Boardroom and admit that it was all your fault and you should be fired – yet that’s exactly what Brian did!

By the time he got to the Boardroom, Brian’s goose was likely cooked – but he was the one who lit the fire! Still, we’ve seen Boardroom sessions that look like they are going in one direction suddenly turn into another, and Brian didn’t even try (at least not until it was too late).

Brian was a horrible leader and not even a nice person. He had no idea how to tackle this job, other than screaming at people. He refused to take good advice. He made rash, stupid decisions. And he ended it all by plunging the knife into his own heart. That is why Brian lost.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the Apprentice 3 Episode 2 recap:

David Bloomberg is the Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached at RNO@pobox.com.

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