What ‘The Apprentice: Los Angeles’ Applicants Should Have Learned

But if you’re going to step up, don’t screw up. Jennifer W. is a perfect example of the importance of this corollary. She took on a significant role as an event planner for the technology expo task in the fourth season, but then she let it fall apart. The event was laid out poorly, didn’t draw people in, had bad food, and even has a misspelling on the cake that nobody noticed until Carolyn.

If you take such a leadership role and you do screw up, be prepared to defend yourself and talk about how you stepped up when nobody else would, etc. Just as volunteering to be project manager can bring along with it some risk, so can stepping up in other roles. But the reward is worth it when it’s done right.

I know, Kendra played under the radar through the early goings of the third season, but that particular behavior by her should not be emulated. Trump, George, and Carolyn all commented that they were disappointed in that aspect of her behavior, and it could have worked against her if only her final competition had done a better job.

2) Stay Cool Under Fire

This rule cannot be stressed enough – and you, as a player, are going to be stressed plenty. Let’s face it, this is a bizarre situation. You are competing as teams, but within those teams you are also competing against your teammates to stick around. Pressure will be placed on you by other team members while working on tasks. Then, if you lose, pressure will be placed on you in the Boardroom – possibly by team members, possibly by Trump and his cohorts.

The key is that you can’t let the pressure get to you. Early on, Trump told Newsweek, “You have to remain cool under fire and let criticism roll off you. Good leaders handle conflict easily and bad ones are eaten up by it.” This is not to say you should ignore criticism – especially if it comes from Trump or his advisors – but rather that you can’t let it consume you. You have to deal with the situation and move on. Worrying about it or obsessing over it won’t help you one bit.

If somebody fires on you in the Boardroom, you’d better be prepared to fire back. Explain why the other person is wrong. Or, if they’re right, then say so in a way that shows you understand what happened and you are willing to accept your mistakes. One mistake usually won’t get you fired, unless it’s a doozy. But one mistake and then losing your cool about it could.

Furthermore, when you respond, you have to figure out the best way to handle it. The original version of this rule said to reply calmly and without emotion. Unfortunately, we’ve seen that doesn’t always work with Trump, as when Andy was getting screamed at by both Jen and Sandy in the second series, and Trump claimed Andy was out-debated. However, Jen tried these tactics at other times too, such as in the finals against Kelly, and calm rationality held the day. So there is a fine line to walk. If you need to show anger, show anger. If you need to remain calm, remain calm. But don’t go overboard in either direction – always remain in control.

Chris from the third season was an example of somebody out of control. Even in the Boardroom, he yelled and swore. Not smart.

Of course, the Boardroom is not the only place you will find stress. In the first series, Protégé lost some of their cash during the flea market challenge. Kristi became flustered about it, but Omarosa came across as cool, calm, and collected. In the Trump Ice challenge, both Nick and Bill said that Ereka was too emotional – this led directly to her uttering, “Don’t say it, Mr. Trump” in the Boardroom when it was clear he was about to fire her. Collapsing under pressure and begging is not the way to stick around.

The third season had three people who dealt with stress worse than just about anybody else in any other seasons. Audrey completely fell apart and started saying everybody hated her because she was beautiful. She wanted people to accept her for her brain, but when the pressure started coming, she lost it. She became flustered, she could barely speak, she yelled, she swore, she stormed out of rooms, she said stupid things, she made bad decisions.

Danny, who seems to be a smart guy, was completely unable to function under pressure. He simply could not make decisions when they were necessary, and eventually was sent home in large part because of this.

Finally, there was Verna. Verna was so dysfunctional under pressure that she ended up quitting (and received an induction into the Reality TV Hall of Shame to boot). She simply could not handle it – and even grabbed her stuff and wandered around aimlessly for a while in the middle of a task. Not good.

3) Have a Backbone

Both Kristi and Jessie were fired on the first series because they meekly accepted whatever was thrown at them, even hideous attacks from Omarosa. Trump flat-out said that he didn’t like the way Omarosa was behaving, but what was worse was that Jessie sat there and took it. Similarly, we already discussed what happened to Andy when he was attacked by Sandy and didn’t do enough to fight back. So if somebody attacks you in the Boardroom, you need to stand up for yourself.

This doesn’t necessarily mean attacking them back or getting emotional. But you need to be firm and explain your side of the story and show how the person attacking you is really the one who deserves to be fired. A good example is Nick in the Apprentice 1 Planet Hollywood challenge. He was in danger because he kind of shut down during the challenge, as he disagreed with the ethics of what was going on around him. When his lack of effort was mentioned in the Boardroom, Nick stood up for himself and presented his side of the story. It still wasn’t smart to have gone into autopilot mode during the challenge, but he made up for it in the Boardroom.

However, having a backbone doesn’t only apply in the Boardroom. You also need to stand up for yourself and your ideas during the tasks (which is what Nick didn’t do, above). If you are in the middle of a challenge and think you need a better location, by all means say you need a better location. If the group agrees with you and you do well because of it, you will gain some status. If they disagree with you and you don’t do well, you can say you told them so. Worst case is if you move to a different location and still do poorly, but even then at least you took a stand on the issue.