The Apprentice 4 Weekly Performance Review, Episode 10

Capital Edge’s arithmetic is as follows – with 15 temps and the three of them, they generated about 7.5 calls per hour, a much better return. However, the way the show was edited, didn’t you get the feeling they were getting calls at a much higher rate?

Alla: As project manager, Alla did some good things this week. She provided an environment where her team was happy, hard working, and productive, and they communicated well.

That being said, I am a little surprised The Donald didn’t hold Alla more accountable for this week’s loss. She approved the budget that spent most of their money unproductively.

Alla seemed very comfortable cutting their staff back to 15 people at the time she did it. However, in the Boardroom she said she had insisted on twenty. Either may have actually been a more manageable size when used properly, but Felisha sure took all the heat for the manpower situation from Mr. Trump, and it was actually Alla’s decision that led to the perceived manpower shortcoming.

As the Boardroom started and Felisha failed to blame Adam for his expensive carriages, Alla brought it up. This was a good move, as her role in that decision never came out.

Alla performed the way I like players to perform in the Boardroom. She was tough and communicated her points firmly and professionally. There was no reason to yell or get emotional, and she didn’t.

Alla is the undisputed leader of Capital Edge. I still think Trump let her off easy, but I’ll assign her a rating of SATISFACTORY.

Felisha: Felisha pushed for people over carriages, but lost that battle. Too bad, it probably made all the difference in the world. However, she entered “don’t blame me if we fail” mode, and that’s never the way to go.

Felisha was terrible in the Boardroom. Her very first statements should have been about Adam squandering the budget and Alla letting him. Instead, when Trump asked her why they didn’t hire more people, she meekly responded, “It just wasn’t something we considered, sir.” At the end of the Boardroom, Trump was still blaming Felisha for the perceived labor shortage because she never successfully got her explanation across.

At one point when they were ganging up on her in the Boardroom, Felisha said her responsibilities were more than just labor. However, she never elucidated what those other duties were.

The weekly lesson was to “be a gladiator.” Felisha didn’t fight very well, but her opponent was a relative rookie and she got away with it, for now. Felisha earns the NEEDS IMPROVEMENT rating this week. In the Boardroom Carolyn identified Felisha as a weak player. Her time left in the game has to be coming to an end real soon.

Adam: Adam did a good job this week, but the idea of the carriages should have been re-examined when the large cost was identified. Also, many of those wrappers really looked tacky when they were applied, and on one, the phone number was unreadable. I seriously doubt they generated many calls.

I’m glad his plans to put Shania’s face on the horses didn’t pan out. Disturbing image, you know… that one had me worried a little!

Adam wasn’t great in the Boardroom either. He could only summarize himself subjectively. All eighteen applicants are “curious” and “passionate” with “strong analytical skills,” so saying those things bought him nothing with Trump. What Adam should have mentioned was that although he never won as project manager, he’s been on the winning team six out of the first nine times, while Felisha has been on the losing side by, coincidently, the same count.

Adam criticized Felisha for not getting the labor at lower cost. However, we never saw him negotiating a lower fee for his carriages, either.

Adam’s biggest shortcoming was his youth and inexperience, something Trump knew all about before the show started. It was not possible to overcome this factor. Every season there seems to be a firing like this around this stage of the game – someone is found to be under-educated, too young, or affected by some other obvious factor.

After considering all these factors, I also assign him a rating of NEEDS IMPROVEMENT.

Well, those are the performance reviews for this week. No one was unacceptable. I’ll be back next week with a new review of our remaining candidates’ antics.

Last words: I don’t have much else to say this week. What do you think? Let me know at the eAddress below.

Brian lives in Toronto where he can be reached at uncle_bto@rogers.com. He spent a couple of decades working in middle management at The Prudential, primarily hiding behind the coffee machine to avoid his pointy-haired bosses. He’d like to hear your opinions and promises to respond to all serious email!

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