Victory Goes to the Tireless

Trump-ologists say that in Donald Trump’s world, nothing fails like losing, but in the boardroom of “The Apprentice,” there is no excuse as bad as “I was snoozing.” That brings us to the overriding theme in last week’s contest: Victory goes to those who can function and thrive with the least sleep. Despite the two surviving members of NetWorth, Chris and Alex, choosing Bren to join them from the four members of Magna, they still could not pick up a win. With a streak of seven consecutive losses, tobacco-chewing, anger-management victim Chris got the Trump-A-Dump, albeit with an emotional sendoff from The Donald himself.The teams were charged with designing a brochure for the new Pontiac Solstice sports car. Described by General Motors executives as a sexy, gorgeous two-seater, the teams would be judged by the GM bigwigs on who had the best photos and copy that best expressed the message they desired.At the outset, the three men of NetWorth joked about the inherent advantages of being men in a task related to cars. But their hubris destroyed them. Alex failed to get photographs of the car that matched what they had decided they wanted, and he then napped rather than go back and get better shots. Bren failed to write compelling brochure copy – what he drafted was essentially a technical user’s manual. Chris rumbled, bumbled, and stumbled his way through his presentation of the brochure to the unimpressed GM execs. While neither Alex nor Bren’s performance was stellar, it was Chris who could not avoid the axe. Hearing “You’re fired!” caused Chris to break down and cry, which moved The Donald to call him back to shake his hand and remind him that he was a good kid who would go far as long as he kept his temper under control and quit chewing tobacco. It was the first time Mr. Trump had offered such a tender send-off.Magna project manager Kendra made effective use of her marketing background and hit the ground running with her team. Kendra parked a Solstice on the street and asked passersby to tell her in one word the emotions that the car inspired. She used their responses in her brochure.Meanwhile, her teammates went to sleep on her. With Tana enjoying immunity from being fired and Craig feeling Kendra still had no direction, they returned to the suite. However, never losing her desire to win, Kendra stayed on course and worked through the night to create a brilliant circular brochure with the car’s grill on the front and its rear-end logo on the back. In the middle, Kendra inserted a CD and business card holders, and drafted copy that used all of the descriptive words she had collected from the people she had canvassed on the street. Kendra became the brochure – she was there to win, and the brochure was there to sell. The GM execs were so impressed, they said they would use what she had designed as the official Solstice brochure, and proclaimed Magna to be the “slam dunk winners.” They were treated to a court session with former NBA star Isiah Thomas and members of the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden.Lessons LearnedLESSON ONE: Never forget why you are there. Kendra was always mindful of this, and she continually verbalized to her team that she wanted “to win.” She was motivated by this one simple concept, and that is what kept her up all night with fire and inspiration. Kendra’s ability to keep her eyes on the prize got her to it, and although she felt betrayed by the lack of help from her teammates, her resolve to win was al ways bigger than anything else.LESSON TWO: Write it down. All three NetWorth team members agreed that a photo of the Solstice’s stunning interior logo would make for a great cover, but Alex, who was in charge of photography, failed to get the shot. He claimed later there wasn’t enough time, so we have to wonder why the most important image wasn’t shot first. With a project that has as many moving parts as this one did, don’t leave anything to memory – write it down.LESSON THREE: Give the customers what they want. The execs asked for something sexy and gorgeous. A cover photo with the Pontiac symbol is neither. A blurry photograph in which the car design cannot be identified is neither. A text that reads like directions for a computer program is neither. Always give the customers what they asked for in order to ensure success.This week, we get down to the final five, and all seem to have the passion and commitment required to make it through. Stay tuned.Mr. Whitehead is a consultant on work styles and careers. E-mail your comments to trumponomics@aol.com.

Victory Goes to the Tireless

Victory Goes to the Tireless

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