Podcast: Apprenti Gone Wild

The Apprenti, after eight episodes, bid goodbye. Going out in style, they lower the boom on Trump, The Apprentice, Allie, Andrea, Sean, each other, and pretty much anything else they can get their hands on.

Sobering up for a few moments, the Apprenti talk about planning and keys to good teamwork as well as the need to do research on your task.

Click here to listen to the last episode.

Podcast: Real(ity) Leadership

Listen to Riley and Raluca chat about episode six here.

Topics this week:

1. Leadership Styles—Sean vs. Bryce. Not exactly Muhammad Ali vs. George Foreman, but certainly two very different project managers and leaders. How do they stack up?


2. Character and Potential in Human Resource Decisions—Why does Trump fires based on project performance and not on character and potential? Don’t listen for an answer, we’re just complaining.


3. Trump’s Decision Making—Raluca takes exception to Trump’s “This is life” style of leadership and his corrosive leadership style


4. Talent and Conflict in Reality TV—What The Apprentice could learn from American Idol (and it has nothing to do with Lenny’s singing voice).

We’d like to do a question and answer session on the air. If you have questions on project management, organizational sciences, The Apprentice, or what Raluca’s favorite color is, e-mail us a question as text or as audio (via Springdoo.com).

Podcast: Getting Stove-piped

Listen to Riley and Raluca’s commentary on episode five right here.

Now that a little dead weight has been thrown overboard, the contestants get to draw up a commercial for a cruise liner. After watching Dan get tossed, the Apprenti had some questions and some answers.

1. Optimization of Resources—When there are too many cooks in the kitchen, teams begin to break down. The Apprenti think this was a mostly poor choice by the producers, not a failure by the teams.


2. Risk Analysis—Plotting, scheming, and pondering victory all come down to effective risk analysis. Why five minutes of brainstorming could have alerted Dan and Roxanne to the task’s pitfalls. Learn more about Qualitative Risk Analysis and Quantitative Risk Analysis.


3. Who Gets Fired: Ownership of Ideas vs. Leader’s Decisions—Riley and Raluca ponder absurd and not-so-absurd reasons why Dan got fired.

We’ve also got a new introduction and fresh “Things to Look For.” (Though we haven’t thought of a better name for this section and for that we are deeply sorry.) Tune in or tune out, we don’t care, but please download our podcast.

Podcast: What Makes a Good Leader and a Good Presentor (Episode 4)

To listen to this podcast, click here.

This week, the Apprenti take aim at...

1. Synergy's Failure—An old model, a cluttered design, and a bad presentation


2. Leadership—Tammy and Charmaine both received glowing reviews. Tammy did a great job of "Encouraging the heart" (Kouzes and Posner, Leadership Challange). Why did Charmaine win? Well, Contingency Theory (also called Best Fit Approach; Handy, Understanding Organizations, p. 103) says that Charmaine's style fit the moment.
   
3. Brent—Personal skills were certainly not Brent's strong suit. Why shouldn't we cut him some slack and agree with him that he was Synergy's best leader? Well, our data say otherwise (Larson and LaFasto, Teamwork, p. 65). Also, his childlike behavior did not help (De Lassus, Tranzactional Analysis).
   
4. Powerpoint Presentations—After Sean's embarrassing attempt at a powerpoint presentation, The Apprenti offer Seth Godin's advice from Free Prize Inside on good (and bad) powerpoint presentations.

Things to look out for? Well, you'll just have to listen to the podcast

Project Management Podcast

The Project Management Podcast did a nice piece on The Apprenti. Check it out at:

http://pmpodcast.blogspot.com/2006/03/show-25-introduction-to-earned-value.html

The piece on The Apprenti is at 34 minutes.

The Project Management Podcast is a top-of-the-line podcast on all topics relating to project management for both beginners and experts. If you work on projects, are interested in becoming a certified project manager, have extensive experience in project management, or just want to learn a little more about the profession, the Project Management Podcast is a great place to start. Check out the whole podcast and blog at http://pmpodcast.blogspot.com/

I've been a listener for the past couple months and it's just great to have them give us a mention.

Armchair Apprentice

The other Apprentice podcast kids on the block gave The Apprenti a mention a couple weeks ago. Their piece on episode four, Nature Refined, gives us a holler:

http://apprentice.tubecasts.com/blog/index.php/archives/22

Marjorie and Michael Carrino do a wonderful job at going through each episode of the Apprentice and taking it apart. They provide a different format and take as well as opinions on The Apprentice. Thanks for the shout out.

For more on Armchair Apprentice (and their podcast Armchair Survivor), head over to http://apprentice.tubecasts.com/

Podcast: Leaders We Like; Jerks We Don't (Episode 3)

The Apprenti decide not to take a week off and instead analyze episode three:

1) Problem solving in project management - Raluca looks at what happens when problems arise in planning, controlling, and people "phases" of project management.

2) Conflict and Leadership Skills - Just as Sean did, Raluca marvels at Andrea's handling of the project manager position. She also dishes out the five characteristics of a good leader.

3) Trump as a Leader - Riley thinks that Trump has been sending mixed messages to his charges and that's influencing how they behave.

4) Lenny - Riley and Raluca agree: the guy's a serious problem.

Podcast: When Alpha Males and Females Fight (Episode 2)

Take a listen to The Apprenti’s thoughts on The Apprentice’s second episode.

1) Execute Early – Riley wants it both ways: good planning and solid execution. The teams got wrapped up in the finer points and failed to realize what this task needed: volume.

2) Types of Conflict – Raluca discusses two types of conflict: relationship conflict and task conflict. And, no, we can’t help you with your relationship conflict. (Greg Stewart, Team Work and Group Dynamics, 95-97)

3) Conflict Resolution – Raluca and Riley compare notes on the different forms of conflict resolution and how it’s going to turn out for Brent and Lee.

4) Leadership Styles – Riley looks at Pepi’s and Lee’s leadership styles and why neither works; Raluca disagrees and thinks that Lee is the victim of age discrimination (Charles Handy, Understanding Organizations, 77)

5) Rules of Brainstorming – Raluca and Riley are dumbfounded by Trump…again.

6) A Look at Episode 3 – The Apprenti leave you with two things to watch for Monday night’s episode.

Can’t Fire Half the Argument (Episode 2)

Trump made a critical managerial and human resource error by firing half an argument. In firing Stacey, he made a statement that the conflict was at the heart of Synergy's failure, which was a valid decision. However, in not firing Brent, he encouraged his outlandish behavior. Fire both or fire none: Trump encouraged dissent and conflict for the purpose of driving up ratings.

Bill Rancic claimed that Stacey and Brent had a "he said, she said" argument and that no one would really know what happened. This is false since we all witnessed the argument on tape. Go back and review the dailies, Bill.

Synergy’s Complacency (Episode 2)

One of the prime reasons for Synergy’s failure was that they grew complacent. Witnessing the divisions in the Gold Rush team, Synergy wrongfully assumed that they would be able to cakewalk through the next task. They lacked fire, passion, drive, and a good alarm clock.

What’s Up with Four People in the Boardroom? (Episode 2)

No, seriously, what’s up with bringing four people into the boardroom? Gladiators in Roman times didn’t say, “Hey, I know you only wanted to put one lion in the arena, but if you put ten in there they’ll kill each other and I have a better chance of getting out alive.” Correct probability? Yes. Flawed logic? Absolutely. Project managers make the decision to bring those people in. For both episodes, we saw them bring their enemies into the boardroom. Stop the bone-headed, spite-driven behavior and drag candidates into the boardroom who really ought to be there.

Being a Team Player (Episode 2)

Lenny’s dissention from Lee’s leadership, while probably garnering Gold Rush’s first win, was a move by a poor team player. There was a way to openly discuss different possibilities and Lenny chose to circumvent Lee’s temporary authority as project manager in order to further his personal and professional agenda.

This is really more a matter of a bunch of type A personalities being thrown together, but this is a job interview and if Lenny, Lee, Tarek, Brent, and the rest of the candidates don’t start working together as a group, this negative attitude will spread through the whole group. The people who are clearly being targeted as outsiders are Lee and Brent, regardless of the strength as candidates. You are there to do a task. Get over yourselves and do it!

Podcast: Outcasts, Deviants, and Other Names for Poor Planners (Episode 1)

Riley and Raluca look at group mentality and the basics of project management. 1-Diversity and attraction to similarities, 2-Project management basics, 3-Group conformity and ganging up against the weak, 4-Leader, manager, or team player, 5-Things to look for in Episode 2. Listen here.

Things to Look For: A Preview of Episode 2

Tune in Monday night at 9pm for Episode 2 of the Apprentice’s fifth season. What can you expect?

Riley thinks that Andrea is a strong contestant, but may struggle early on in her first time as project manager. Andrea has been vocal about not owning a TV or watching the Apprentice’s earlier seasons and that will put her at a disadvantage as she will not be able to tap into the historical information that other contestants will have.

Raluca predicts that the desire to weed out the dissenters will continue. Brent seems doomed for multiple reasons: he has relational, behavioral, and performance issues. However, watch out for Lee—an otherwise strong contender—who might get into trouble if he continues to deviate from the group consensus. The team will probably attempt to bring him back into the fold. If he continues to blaze his own trail, Lee will be brought to the boardroom until he is fired.

Trump’s Quirks (Episode 1)

Donald has some quirks and since one of the Apprenti has a background in organizational behavior, it’s just too easy.

Trump levied one of his more politically insensitive remarks when he told Lenny, who grew up in the former Soviet Union, that his trip in the blimp as the equivalent of being sent to Siberia. Yes, Mr. Trump, let’s compare a trip in a hot air balloon with the systematic torture, execution, and denial of human rights of Russians over the period of 50 years. Trump proceeded to forego using Lenny’s name, instead calling him, The Russian.

Trump has a long-standing fascination with conventional intelligence because, frankly, he doesn’t have it. He has a lot of other things going for him: good street smarts, charisma, and business acumen. His selection of Tarek—as a Mensa member—and Allie—as a graduate of Harvard business—only succeeded in revealing his own insecurities. At the end of episode, he judged Tarek to be over-rated and lacking sense: a victory for Trump.

Project Management Basics (Episode 1)

Painful. Only one word can truly describe the abysmal lack of planning by the two teams. No effective brainstorming and no objectives lead to a sorry performance of 83 total subscriptions to Sam’s Club: a number they could have surely met with their own meager ad campaign.

A high-level view of project management breaks down into five phases:

Initiating: Recognizing that a project or phase should begin and committing to do so.
Planning: Devising and maintaining a workable scheme to accomplish the business need that the project was undertaken to address.
Executing: Coordinating people and other resources to carry out the plan.
Controlling: Ensuring that project objectives are met by monitoring and maintaining progress and taking corrective action when necessary.
Closing: Formalizing acceptance of the project or phase and brining it to an orderly end.

From the project management vantage point, the first task can only be viewed as a complete disaster. After Trump initiated their project for them, there was little if no project planning, reasonable execution on a non-existent project plan, no control measures to ensure that the team’s achieved numbers that they thought would score them a win, and the closing processes ended with a bang as Trump nearly fired two people on the first day.

There should have been extensive discussions regarding a SMART objective: Specific, Measurable, Agreed, Reachable, and Time-bound. Tarek or Allie should have said, What will it take to win the task? Fifty new subscriptions? One hundred?

Since it’s impossible to go through the whole nine yards of project management, the project managers should have at least employed Management by Objective (MBO) where 1) an objective is established, 2) the objective is periodically evaluated, and 3) corrective measures are taken. Instead, there was no objective, no evaluation, and no corrective measured. We were only a couple martinis away from Trump firing all 18 candidates for incompetence and moving to LA for season six.

Group Conformity and Ganging Up Against the Weak (Episode 1)

Groups are an entity unto themselves: They like getting the job done and having consensus while doing it, although this does not always work out in their favor (Jean-Claude Abric, The Psychology of Communication, p.82). In The Apprentice, this might mean ganging up against the weak as a preservation method, a Darwinian natural selection. How is the weak defined? Well, basically, if you make one mistake, you’re in deep trouble. And that is exactly what Summer did. The task encouraged this method: having her in the blimp was the sentencing, with no chance of redemption.

Groups also like cohesion, which means that group members tend to hate dissenters from the group’s opinion (Crutchfield, Conformity and Character). That does mean it’s right, in fact it discourages people from speaking the truth. Schachter did a series of experiments in which he introduced a deviant member in multiple groups. The deviant’s job was to disagree with the general group opinion (Abric). In the first phase there was a serious increase in communication towards the deviant, as group members tried to persuade him or her. In the second phase, if the deviant did not change his or her mind, the others stopped speaking to the deviant altogether. Now, check this out: the more cohesive the group and the more important the task they need to do, the worse these symptoms become

Sounds familiar? Summer was the doomed one. But Lenny was associated with Summer in the group’s mind simply by proximity: they were together in the blimp and in the room when the group was discussing next steps. Lee, in contrast, made the fatal mistake of opposing the group upfront. After a failed attempt by Tarek reel him in, he was taken to the boardroom, as a punishment.

The Art of Brainstorming (Episode 1)

A shortcoming of both groups was a striking failure to effectively brainstorm both team names and project plans. The rules of brainstorming are simple: 1) Accept all ideas, 2) Set a time limit, 3) Take notes, 4) Quantity over quality, 5) No ownership, and 6) Piggyback on other’s ideas. What did Tarek do when brainstorming a name for his team? Steamrolled them with his own idea. What happened when Brent threw out the idea of 'Killer Instinct' for Allie’s team? He was crushed with criticism. Brent was similarly rebuffed when he suggested offering manicures and haircuts at Sam’s Club. Right now there’s a dearth of ideas and a failure to brainstorm is part of the reason why.

Diversity and Attraction to Similarity (Episode 1)

Theodore Newcomb’s theory of social attraction says that both in the business world and outside of it, we have a tendency of seeking out group members either because they are like us or because they complement our personalities and skills. This attraction was obvious during team selection when we saw Tarek choose two men and Allie choose two women first—maybe a subconscious way of staying within the familiar. After selecting the similar, the contestants left Lee (the youngest contestant), Lenny (the Russian), and Brent (the overweight Canadian) as the final three. It is very possible that Tarek and Allie’s decisions were influenced by their inability to identify with the three, which they perceived as outside the norm. Two of these three contestants ended up being exiled to the blimp.

In contrast, Sean—the contestant from England—was selected by Allie fairly early on. Allie legitimized this pick by describing Sean as a person who is easy to work with and relate to. However, it was clear that she felt comfortable with him, and maybe even physically attracted to him. This attraction does not necessarily carry a sexual overtone, but rather is an attraction to others who fit society’s standards of physical beauty.

Group homogeneity is a paradox in today’s corporate world: it facilitates work, but often does not produce the best results. More importantly, homogeneity is nothing short of impossible, considering today’s diverse and global society. In the episodes ahead, look for how contestants come to terms with each other’s different backgrounds and use them constructively.

(Check out a Google map with the hometowns of all Apprentice contestants.)

Predicting Doom: Game Strategy (Episode 1)

Is predicting failure a good strategy? Trump seems to think so. He gave Summer high compliments for predicting the failure of Gold Rush. But we say doom-saying is not enough. Coupled with corrective action, criticism can be positive, but this was clearly not part of Summer’s nay-saying game plan. Instead, it might have been just a strategy to look good precisely in case they lost.

A Lack of Perspective? (Episode 1)

Remember your first day on your job? Wandering around the floor looking for the copier? Filling out the paperwork for HR? Imagine having a 6 percent chance that you would be fired at the end of the day. Apprentice contestants have to be able to switch modes quickly so that they can function efficiently in their new position. Summer’s fatal mistake was that she maintained her restaurant owner perspective. In doing so, she refused to call restaurant owners during rush, possibly costing her team the win and certainly punching her ticket as the first contestant taking a taxi home.

Leader, Manager, or Teammate? Part II (Episode 1)

Thank you Tarek. We can now continue our discussion of the triple role an Apprentice contestant must play. Riley saw Tarek as a good leader, using his charisma to help his team bond and execute during the task; his failure was in his managerial skills, where he went forward with an ill-defined objective, and as a teammate, where he isolated Lenny, Summer, and Lee. Raluca disagreed with that assessment as she saw Tarek’s style as aggressive, performance driven, and driven primarily by group processes. Tarek’s style was in contrast to Allie’s Relational style of leadership.

Let the Game Begin

Eighteen candidates and, if Donald Trump continues his table-thumping dismissals, the fifth season of The Apprentice will be down to one in no time. On the eve of the show’s season premier, The Apprenti unsheathe the pen and sword to determine what viewers are in for over the next few months.

The Contestants
Casting directors have created a remarkably well-balanced show, though the data is still sketchy as not every contestant entered responses for each question. Contestants are evenly split along gender lines: nine women, nine men. They come from a varied educational background with six bachelor degrees, eight post-graduate degrees, and two with no college experience. The age range is remarkably centered; the mode, median, and average for the contestants is 30 years old with a high of 38 (Stacey) and a low of 22 years old (Lee). The issue of diversity is the most difficult to assess as few candidates declare their race, ethnicity, or nationality. Three candidates (or 17% of the candidate pool) were born outside the United States: the Former U.S.S.R., Canada, and England; two candidates are African-American (Roxanna and Michael), a third is Filipino-American (Charmaine), and a fourth Cuban-American (Pepi).

While age, sex, nationality, ethnicity, and education will certainly play a critical role in bonding and team performance, issues which garner less attention may be just as important. Andrea skipped college and went on to become a multi-millionaire while Tarek was raised in the public housing project of New Bedford, MA and went on to win a scholarship to an elite boarding school. Contrast those experiences to the silver spoon pasts of many other contestants and it is a recipe for conflict. The relationship status of contestants may also play a role as twelve contestants are single while only three are married and only Lenny has children. Finally, we cannot discount latent factors such as sexual orientation, which played such a critical role last year when Donald Trump outed Clay in the boardroom, or religion, which drove a wedge between Ryan and Clay.

Leadership
Asserting authority will be critical to the success of any contestant. But when we think of authority, we normally think of our supervisor. Project managers in The Apprentice do not carry this sort of Legitimate Authority. Legitimate Authority is handed down to a supervisor because of his or her position. Project managers in the show hold such a tenuous grip on their power that they need rely on other forms of authority. More often, contestants rely on Expert Authority (power awarded to those with relevant experience), Referent Authority (power given to those with charisma or respect from a higher authority), or Representative Authority (power given when a person is selected by his/her group).

Viewers should also be on the lookout for the effects of Reward Authority and Punishment Authority levied by Trump, as contestants that are labeled as “weak” or “losers” early on will find it exceedingly difficult to assert authority. Similarly, contestants who are praised or rewarded by Trump will have an easier time leading other contestants.

Finally, there’s the role of personality types with type A’s being naturally attracted to the show. “Type A people are characterized by ‘extreme competitiveness, striving for achievement, aggressiveness, haste, impatience, restlessness, hyperalertness, explosiveness of speech, tenseness of facial musculature and feelings of being under pressure of time and under the challenge of responsibility’ Type B were more laid back” (Handy, Understanding Organizations, 71). A little type B could go a long way to assuaging Trump and the other candidates.

Leader, Manager, or Teammate?
Let’s face it; a contestant on The Apprentice needs to be all three. Management has been synonymous with stability and control, but now managers are also expected to be leaders who value change, empowerment, and relationships. “Leadership cannot replace management; it should be in addition to management” (Daft, The Leadership Experience, p. 16). On The Apprentice, the business world is in constant flux and contestants will need to be stable, flexible, and team players in order to keep from getting fired.

Podcast: A Look at the Candidates

Listen to The Apprenti's first podcast, breaking down the 18 candidates by gender, age, educational background, and diversity while also looking forward to the themes that will be particularly relevant to this season's show.