From Final Four to Terrific Two

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

We saw in the semifinals of the second season of “The Apprentice” last week how Donald Trump shifted the game from a team sport to a test of individuals. Competing were Jennifer, Kelly, Kevin, and Sandy.


The Donald switched from interviewing by contest to doing it the old-fashioned way by having executives grill each candidate, eyeball-to-eyeball. In classic Trump style, the Donald presented a panel of big-league corporate titans to do the dirty work: Alan “Ace” Greenberg, Chairman of the Executive Committee of Bear Stearns; Allan Jope, COO of Unilever HPC; Dawn Hudson, President of Pepsi-Cola North America; and Robert Kraft, owner of the world champion New England Patriots football team.


And after Professor Trump’s fearsome foursome had fiercely flogged all four finalists, he flunked Sandy and Kevin with a double Trump-A-Dump and graduated Kelly and Jennifer-season two’s Terrific Twosome.


Episode 14 Turning Points


In the final analysis, the Final Four represented two different types of candidates. Sandy and Kevin were the under experienced corporate neophytes. Both were eager and impressive, but weak in complex corporate competition and inter-cubicle intramurals. Sandy was the entrepreneur, self-taught, lacking a college degree and holding contempt for those who had them. Kevin had diplomas galore, but lacked hard knocks other than those from a college football field.


Kelly and Jennifer, on the other hand, are both veterans of board-room battlefields – Kelly in the software business, and Jennifer in the white collar war rooms of San Francisco law firms. Jennifer had done background on Mr. Trump’s employee count and re cent revenues, while Kelly retold his many successes as an apprentice team leader. They backed up their battle scars with big-time diplomas – Kelly from West Point and UCLA, and Jennifer from Princeton and Harvard. So when Mr. Trump’s inquisitors predictably preferred Kelly and Jennifer, The Donald’s decision to whack greenhorns Kevin and Sandy at the halfway mark was easy as “aim and fire. “


In the board room, Mr. Trump set up next episode’s final competition by bringing back six fired competitors: Elizabeth, John, Raj, Chris, Pamela, and Stacy. Kelly and Jennifer were asked to pick three to be their employees. Although he had never worked with her, Kelly picked Elizabeth first, then John and Raj. Jennifer grabbed Chris, Pamela, and the other attorney, Stacy.


Jennifer was assigned to manage the Trump Charity Basketball Cup at New York City’s Riverside Park sports complex; Kevin was charged with managing the Trump Polo Cup at the Greenwich Polo Club. Both of these events are sponsored by Genworth Financial Services. Their representatives will be monitoring the events from beginning to end and reporting their recommendations back to Mr. Trump. In early scenes from the competition, both teams gave the sponsor and Trump-ologists reason to be nervous, setting up a surefire cliffhanger for next week’s grand finale.


Lessons Learned


LESSON ONE Corporate chiefs like those who remind them of what they value in themselves – discipline, leadership, and accomplishment. Mr. Trump’s fantastic four team of interviewers all went ga-ga over Kelly’s military experience and track record of orderly success. Even if he was a little stiff, as Pepsi-Cola’s Ms. Hudson observed, the chieftains, including Mr. Trump himself, preferred Kelly hands down over others because he reminded them of their favorite subjects: themselves.


LESSON TWO Resume-building is not enough – accomplishments matter more.


All of Mr. Trump’s big-league execs criticized Kevin’s background as big-hat-no-cattle. Bear Stearns’ Mr. Greenberg said it best: “Unbelievable resume – for what?” All the interviewers preferred a mix of academics and practical experience, which fits with what all Trump-ologists know are The Donald’s preferences as well.


LESSON THREE Fighters enjoy fights – they see themselves in the winners. Mr. Trump is a fighter – whether battling back from bankruptcy or dueling ex-wives over his billions, The Donald loves to duke it out. Mr. Trump enjoyed and praised Jennifer’s board room assault on hapless Sandy, taking special glee in Jennifer’s point that Sandy lacked the “intellectual horsepower” to grasp the complexity of Mr. Trump’s business.


Jennifer’s coup de grace was making Sandy admit she was unaware of the size of Mr. Trump’s giant 15,000-employee workforce. Like all great fighters, Mr. Trump enjoys the spectacle, especially when the contestants are fighting over him.


The next episode is the three-hour extravaganza to crown the second-season winner, who will be rewarded with a job as president of one of Mr. Trump’s companies. Expect the Terrific Twosome to pull off their respective events, then tear into each other in the board room, live in front of a studio audience.


The casinos say it is even money. Place your bets now for the big finale. And stay tuned.


The New York Sun

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