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Episode Summary: The season opened with 18 new Apprentice candidates. After greeting them aboard his jet, Mr. Trump selected Tarek as one project manager because of his membership in Mensa, an association for people with high IQ's. Mr. Trump then selected Allie to head the other team because of her degree from Harvard Business School. Tarek's team took the name Gold Rush; Allie's group called itself Synergy.
This week's project was to sign up new members for Sam's Club or get current members to upgrade their memberships to a higher level. Each team was given a Goodyear blimp to attract visitors to the store. The team that sold the largest number of new or upgraded memberships would win.
On promotion day with their blimps circling overhead, the teams spread out through their stores. Allie's team, which offered massages and manicures at booths inside the store entrance, sold 43 memberships. Tarek's team, which distributed free tote bags, attracted only 40 and lost the competition.
Back in the conference room, Mr. Trump fired Summer because of her failure to execute the task that Tarek had given her: to call restaurants and get their owners to visit the store the following day. She had made only one call.
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This season premiere taught great lessons about maximizing team performance. Let's take a closer look.
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When Mr. Trump chose Tarek to lead a team because of his high IQ and Allie to lead the other team because of her Harvard degree, he was seeking intelligent leaders who could give their teams a strong start this season. Tarek, however, failed to define a strong promotional idea for his team members to execute, and then bickered with them prior to the firing.
Success Lesson
Don't coast on credentials. They might get you a job, but then you have to lead and get results.
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When Tarek invited women to join his new team by calling them sexist names ("the lovely lady in brown" and "that beautiful girl"), he violated a fundamental rule of doing business today.
Success Lesson
Strip your business talk of even the smallest allusion to physical appearance. Doing otherwise makes people resist you and marks you as someone who is unfit to lead.
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When Brian pitched his idea for the team's name too aggressively ("Killer Instinct," a name that everyone hated), he got angry when the team picked "Synergy" instead. Then he got even more defensive when his team overrode his idea for putting a karaoke machine outside of Sam's Club on promotion day. He quickly alienated himself from his team.
Success Lesson
Get your ego out of the process. On a team, cooperation outweighs your ego needs. Let your group's decision become your decision, even if you thought you had a better idea.
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Both teams ultimately created similar in-store promotions, but Synergy won by intercepting Sam's Club customers as they entered the store and selling to them assertively.
Success Lesson
Don't always seek perfection. An imperfect idea, implemented aggressively, often wins.
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When Summer made only one call to a restaurant to invite its owner to visit Sam's Club and then gave up, she committed a firing offense, and was forced to make a quick exit from this season's competition as a result. She could have told her project that the task he had given her wasn't working. She could have come up with a better task and done it. Instead she just sat there, and that cost her a job.
Success Lesson
Squawk. If you have an assignment that is stupid or simply not working, don't just sit there. Let your teammates know. Raise a ruckus and get something done or be prepared to take the blame.
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What will the future hold? Can Tarek recover from this week's bruising loss and mend fences with his team? Will Brian stop griping, stop making excuses, stop acting weird, and produce? Next week, we'll know!
圭地地地地 |
我最中意噶飞黄腾达又开始啦！我真的很高兴又能见到这个真人SHOW. 因为每一集都可以睇到参赛者使出混身解数，学到唔少野。
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