Apprentice Update
So this week Trump had the teams jump on a bus down to Atlantic City and try to get people to gamble at the Taj Mahal. Basically all they had to do was convince people to swipe their cards at their team's station and then the revenues would be counted in their total. Each team had to do something to get traffic, and Protege, led by Kwame, decided to focus on the VIP line, as well as get a tiger and some kind of gambling wheel. Versacorp, led by my former co-worker Amy, went with some lame car rental gimmick. In the end Versacorp ended up with more gamblers, but lower revenue, so the guys at Protege finally won.
This was a pretty satisfying Apprentice episode for me. Amy gets knocked down off of her high horse by leading the losing team, Katrina gets fired and the all guy's team finally wins something.
Kwame was leading Protege in this episode and he said something that I totally agree with. He described his management style this way (more or less): "Pick great people, give them a goal and let them figure out how to get there." This exactly matches both my management style and the way that I want to be managed. Don't explain the steps you think I should take to get from point A to point Z. Let me figure that myself; that is where the fun is. Too often, I have had managers say we need to get to point Z, so I want you to do B, C, D and, etc., to get there. But in my mind I know that all I need to do is R and maybe an H and a C^2 and then we're there. All that other stuff is crap! Anyway, I thought he had a good point, so at least they are teaching something good at HBS.
One thing about Atlantic City: that place kinda sucks. I lived in Philly for a year (which also kinda sucks, at least compared to Chicago and DC), and went to AC a few times since it is only an hour or so away. Man, is that place depressing. When I think Vegas (baby) I think of pretty people and fun, you know Dan Tanna and all that; although maybe that is because I haven't been there since I was 11 and am confusing it with Swingers. When I think Atlantic City, I think of sad-looking old people with too much cash, dangerous-looking thugs and drunk guys yelling at their girlfriends.
So this week Trump had the teams jump on a bus down to Atlantic City and try to get people to gamble at the Taj Mahal. Basically all they had to do was convince people to swipe their cards at their team's station and then the revenues would be counted in their total. Each team had to do something to get traffic, and Protege, led by Kwame, decided to focus on the VIP line, as well as get a tiger and some kind of gambling wheel. Versacorp, led by my former co-worker Amy, went with some lame car rental gimmick. In the end Versacorp ended up with more gamblers, but lower revenue, so the guys at Protege finally won.
This was a pretty satisfying Apprentice episode for me. Amy gets knocked down off of her high horse by leading the losing team, Katrina gets fired and the all guy's team finally wins something.
Kwame was leading Protege in this episode and he said something that I totally agree with. He described his management style this way (more or less): "Pick great people, give them a goal and let them figure out how to get there." This exactly matches both my management style and the way that I want to be managed. Don't explain the steps you think I should take to get from point A to point Z. Let me figure that myself; that is where the fun is. Too often, I have had managers say we need to get to point Z, so I want you to do B, C, D and, etc., to get there. But in my mind I know that all I need to do is R and maybe an H and a C^2 and then we're there. All that other stuff is crap! Anyway, I thought he had a good point, so at least they are teaching something good at HBS.
One thing about Atlantic City: that place kinda sucks. I lived in Philly for a year (which also kinda sucks, at least compared to Chicago and DC), and went to AC a few times since it is only an hour or so away. Man, is that place depressing. When I think Vegas (baby) I think of pretty people and fun, you know Dan Tanna and all that; although maybe that is because I haven't been there since I was 11 and am confusing it with Swingers. When I think Atlantic City, I think of sad-looking old people with too much cash, dangerous-looking thugs and drunk guys yelling at their girlfriends.
