The Apprentice: Los Angeles, Weekly Performance Review, Episode 1

I think it says a lot about this team that in the Boardroom, on more than one occasion no one could remember who made certain decisions or performed certain acts (or at least they said they couldn’t remember). For example, they never gave Trump a final answer on who set the initial price point. To me, that says they were flying by the seat of their pants from the get-go.

Aaron: We only saw Aaron once that I remember, and he did well to support his PM to Ivanka when Frank was out buying a Sharpie. Wait, he also supported Frank in the Boardroom. Loyalty is always a positive. That’s all I have though, so he gets a SATISFACTORY rating.

Carey: At the carwash, Carey seemed to be the first on the team to recognize the need for proper signage and actually do something about it. He might have considered making the purchase on his own, though.

Also, although it took him a couple of sentences to get it out, Carey was the first to suggest that both Martin and Frank should be fired. His rating is GOOD.

Frank: As a PM, Frank made many mistakes. Let’s limit ourselves to addressing the trio of project planning, resource allocation, and vocal communication.

Frank’s first mistakes were in his lack of project planning. When he and Aaron went rushing off to Kinko’s so quickly to get those flyers printed, he left without performing the most important and basic initial tasks of a sales project: price setting and resource deployment. Also, Frank didn’t seem to consider how they were going to deliver flyers to vehicles that were whizzing past at 40 MPH. What, in L.A. they couldn’t find a nearby mall with a big parking lot? (Though even if they could, their time was limited, and it’s not clear if that would have helped.)

Let’s consider his resource deployment. Not only did Frank rush off with Aaron, but later he also went off-site with Carey at a time when Ivanka came by. Neither absence was valid; a project manager needs to stay at the project. These are not proper tasks for a PM, and, if performed at all, both ought to have been assigned to a team member.

One mistake he made in this area I will cut Frank some slack on – the choice to use Martin in sales. Since no one really knew each other yet, Frank had to assume that when Martin said he could sell, he wasn’t lying. However, he correctly caught full flak from Ivanka for assigning responsibility for the project’s primary task (sales) to Tim.

Now, let’s address Frank’s limited communication skills. He needs to find a way to cut way, way back on both his volume and his intensity. I don’t know who’s buffering Frank from the important people in his real job, but they deserve a raise… a big raise.

Right off the top, Frank stuck his nose in unnecessarily and took over on the tent-building task from Heidi when there was no reason to do so. Then, his loud voice was such a distraction to Trump that The Donald felt obligated to shout at him from an upstairs window. The crime may have been minor, but Frank had already accumulated a black mark against himself and the show had barely begun.

During the task, Frank seemed a little more in control (vocally), but it didn’t last. As Frank and Tim discussed the upcoming Boardroom, Frank got so fiercely loud that all the others could easily overhear their conversation. This unawareness of surroundings revealed information that ought to have been kept secret from the other team. The next time the task was reviewed, at least the other team was away at Spago. But goaded by Martin, Frank was getting so vociferous and animated that I was getting a Survivor Shane flashback!

In the Boardroom, Frank continuously threatened his own position by talking far too much without actually making many of his points. When he kept talking as the team went outside to await the final private discussions, Frank’s continued pleas smacked unpleasantly of desperation. And when they returned, Frank was talking quickly but not effectively. For example, after Tim was sent out, there was no reason to keep addressing Tim’s actions, and this was assuredly not the time to extol James’ skills, either.

Then, when Trump overreacted to Frank admitting that Martin had exceptional education (which he does), Frank did not know how to extricate himself. My first tip would have been to stop talking! At the end when Trump was about to fire Martin, Frank kept talking over him. I got the feeling The Donald was about to change his mind.

I think Frank may fare better as a worker bee in future weeks, but he was terrible as a PM. Although I do try to cut the first PM a bit of slack, in Frank’s case the rating must be UNACCEPTABLE. Trump did admit he sees something he likes in Frank, so that’s a plus and maybe he can last a couple of weeks, but wow, his path is straight uphill.

James: Young James showed great enthusiasm through the whole carwash task and did a good job of “up-selling” once the customers finally arrived. For this he receives a GOOD rating.

Martin: Alas, Martin probably should have tried out for a different show, perhaps Jeopardy, where standing about and showing off your book smarts is more likely to be rewarded. Our first exposure to Martin is asking to hug Trump and use the john in the middle of the initial introductions. The Donald even commented to next-to-speak Aimee, “Do you believe what you’re standing next to? I can see where he’s coming from already!” Not five minutes into the show, Martin put a target on himself.

Martin was next found acting as an unwanted supervisor while the tent was being erected. It was so noticed that he was the very last one picked for a team – a point Trump found fit to announce to everyone. Many might consider it a bad omen that, twenty minutes in, Martin has twice received negative comments from his potential boss.