The Apprentice 4 Weekly Performance Review, Episode 8

This series of articles primarily focuses on the business actions of each player on The Apprentice. Toward that end, I’ll be giving a capsulated performance review of each applicant.

Capital Edge: Despite a lack of team harmony, Capital Edge took advantage of Excel’s idiocy to claim an easy victory. However, their display was actually pretty darn good and they probably would have won anyway.

Alla: Alla was the big winner this week. She took over the photo shoot, and eventually, most of the project. She also knew that the time spent with the clients was hugely important. And when Clay assumed the PM role, she made a definite point that they needed to treat each other with respect.

Like Randal, Alla is seen as a serious threat by her teammates. This week, Clay admitted she was “a strong player.” I’ll assign her a rating of EXCELLENT.

Adam: Adam was on low profile this week – NO RATING.

Clay: I didn’t see much I liked about Clay this week. It was good that he recognized he needed to step up and be the PM this week. However, he slowly abdicated responsibility until he was no longer running the task. It’s no surprise that his team did not give him an exemption for next week.

His overtly stating his mistrust of his teammates was an obvious blow to team unity, and undermined his own authority. So was usurping the entire presentation task. It seemed like he was more prepared to defend himself in the Boardroom than he was to win the task.

Clay moves up ever so slightly to earn an UNSATISFACTORY rating. At least they won, and his presentation was adequate. But please, there’s no chance he can last much longer… is there?

Felisha: We didn’t have a lot of Felisha moments this week, except for some confessionals. At the beginning of the task she did make a plea for team unity, but I’m going to stick with NO RATING.

Excel: Excel’s week was defined by two key events, the client meeting and the presentation. Both were disasters.

Randal: After they missed the client meeting, Randal became the subject matter expert. Now, I’m not a Star Wars fan so I can’t truly comment, but when I look at the DVD I don’t see Darth Vader’s picture. However, it was obvious from the other team’s meeting that he was a key point for the clients!

I agree with Carolyn’s feedback, their display was average – no better. Since it could have been so much worse had he not been there, Randal earns a SATISFACTORY rating this week… barely.

Rebecca: Rebecca’s week is defined by a single event – she stepped up to take on the presentation task when it became obvious that no one else was going to do it. I wish we’d seen more from her, but all her comments were to the camera alone. If we had, I might have considered a higher ranking, which, this week, will be GOOD.

Brian: Brian stepped up to be PM on a task he did not feel comfortable on. That was his last good move. Brian made one fatal error that doomed his team – he made them hopelessly late to the client meeting, and they got no direction for the task. There’s really little else to say. Brian gets an UNSATISFACTORY rating.

Marshawn: Marshawn’s week is also defined by a single event – backing out of the presentation task at the eleventh hour was a fatal error. I’ve no idea why she was surprised to be asked to present when she even she admits she hadn’t contributed much on the task.

Bill Rancic was right, instead of shrinking away at this stage of the game, you have to grab your moments and shine. Why, even Kendra had surfaced by this point! But in the Boardroom, Marshawn seemed unable to explain why she didn’t present. Did she not expect she would be asked? Marshawn also gets an UNSATISFACTORY rating this week.

Well, those are the performance reviews for this week. I’ll be back next week with a new review of our remaining candidates’ activities.

Last words: Bill Rancic gave an excellent summary of what Trump is looking for. Basically, that’s passion, creativity, demonstrating the ability to step outside of the box, innovation, having fresh ideas, your actions speak louder than your words… and deliver victories!

There was interesting mail this week, mostly centered on my negative rating of Donald Trump. Some thought I was too harsh, and others, too lenient! It was all very interesting, but I guess I’ll just stick by my original impressions.

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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