The Celebrity Apprentice (Great Lessons)

As a conclusion of this season, and as a continued effort from me to educate all my readers, I included all the lessons learned from the 2008 Celebrity Apprentice, enjoy:

1. The season premiere taught great lessons about thinking outside the box.
2. Identify your real goal and go straight for it. If you’ll win or lose based on the money you earn, go straight for the dollars - not for the hot dogs.
3. Select a leader with prior experience. True, Omarosa led her team to a defeat. But she was still the best choice anyway. When you’re in unfamiliar circumstances, aligning yourself with an experienced leader is your best choice.
4. Think ahead and act early. Even the best idea can’t save you if it comes too late.
5. Rely on your resources now. Why wait until tomorrow, when you might not still be around?
6. Picking the best leader doesn’t always guarantee a win. You’re more likely to cross the finish line first if everyone contributes.
7. Go to the decision-maker. Why try to second-guess what an important boss, customer or client wants? Just ask, find out - and then deliver.
8. Sabotaging your own team is a bad career strategy. It might let you survive until tomorrow. But in the long run, it will only cripple your chances of success.
9. Don’t let your leader smother you. Step out, stand up and fight for the responsibilities that let you shine.
10. Give decision-makers exactly what they ask for - even if you think you know better. Doing anything else only invites failure.
11. Simpler is smarter. Over-thinking and over-complicating will never get you to the top.
12. Listening is more powerful than talking. When you open your ears and your mind, you empower yourself to give people what they want. That’s a powerful way to build your success.
13. Always back up your data. If Hydra had simply kept handwritten notes about their plans, that would have saved the day. (I learned this lesson the hard way).
14. A bloated ego will sink your career. Of course you are smart. But use your intelligence to advance your team and your organization.
15. Set your own pace when negotiating. This is a concept that Donald Trump often stresses in his books - and we saw work on tonight’s episode. When you control the pace of negotiations, you control the outcome.
16. Just let it go. Holding grudges hurts your career, not anyone else’s. So take a deep breath and move on.
17. It’s not personal, it’s business. If you have to fire someone, why try to decimate their self-esteem? You can show this kind of greatness.
18. Never get too big to get your hands dirty. “Piers brought in the high rollers,” Vinnie summed up, “then he put on the sandwich board.” That was high praise indeed - and well deserved. It explains why Hydra is scoring win after win: unlike the women, the men never hesitate to jump onto the front lines of any battle.
19. It takes time and consideration to make sound business decisions. People like Piers and Vinny who shoot from the hip only put themselves and their teams in danger.

20. Creativity is not enough. In business, dollars always count.

21. You can’t undo a lie. When you lie, you never know what a “tangled web” you have started to weave. Honesty really is the best policy – and the most effective – as you build a solid career.

22. Let’s get real here. Attacking a colleague’s heritage, religion or race has no place in business. If you break this rule just once, you’ll end your career.

23. Have you ever wanted to fire a colleague? Of course! But in business, it doesn’t work that way. Grabbing boss’s authority will land you in trouble.

24. You’ve got to play with the cards you’re dealt. We all have to work with less-than-ideal colleagues. That’s part of any job. But if you can produce great results anyway, you will be a standout.

25. Listening isn’t enough. You have to deliver too. A few weeks ago, Gene Simmons got fired for giving judges what he wanted, not what they asked for. Why did Omarosa forget that lesson?

26. There is no “correct” leadership style. If you have to resort to a show of hands or another unorthodox strategy to put the lid on an overbearing team member like Piers, do it. Results count, not any nonexistent “rules.”

27. Don’t judge people on appearances. Trace looks tough, he used to work on an oil rig, but he speaks with the voice of a poet, as his song lyrics show. So as a leader, be sure to dig for people’s hidden skills.

28. Step up and show a strong work ethic every day. Over time, it will protect you from harm and advance your position. Don’t be like Nely, who held back and created her own failure.

29. Don’t be a legend in your own mind. Ego might keep you in the game for a while - but eventually you have to produce results in the world of business.

30. You can’t gain a big advantage over your competitors by doing exactly what they do. Either team could have solicited corporate sponsors for its cab. Either could have created a contest to record a song or have a workout with a celebrity - but they stuck to safe ground instead. Remember that to get a lead in your career, you need the guts to try new things.

31. Leaders let people know how their performance will be judged. Clearly stated expectations build your leadership effectiveness and get results.

32. Playing dirty might give you a temporary edge over your adversaries. But once your game is exposed, your career will suffer.

33. People who behave honorably do get ahead. They even win the favor of bosses as tough as Donald Trump!

34. If you want to inspire the people on your team, give them assignments that let them achieve not just the group’s goals, but their personal goals too. It’s a terrific way to motivate them.

35. Learn everything about the product you are selling. The knowledge you gain will give you a competitive edge.

36. Don’t drop the details when you are selling. Enthusiasm is great, but people will never buy any product until you convince them that it meets their needs.

37. Keep your professional image spic and span. Any lapse in professionalism can make you vulnerable in times of trouble when people are trying to deflect blame from themselves.

38. Learn from experience. To become successful in the future, you need to absorb and apply the lessons of the past.

39. Stick to your goals. Even the most appealing concepts - like Empresario’s picture of Trace serenading a model in a bathtub - won’t carry the day if they don’t support your business objectives.

40. Be subtle when you have to play politics. The real masters of office politics are never as blatant about it as Omarosa is. Whatever is left of her professional image is now in tatters.

41. Treat people kindly. Consideration counts in business - and in every encounter in your life. People with Tito’s kind of character can only succeed in life.

42. Never forget the law of supply and demand. You will always have a greater profit potential with a bigger inventory, period. Marketing counts – but you still need to have something to sell.

43. Sooner or later, lying always gets exposed. When Mr. Trump is in control, it gets exposed even faster. If you don’t play fair, you will eventually get trapped by your own lies.

44. Use your resources strategically if you are the leader. Know what your team members bring to the table and deploy their strengths strategically.

45. Don’t mess with what works. As Ivanka pointed out, there was no need to reinvent the wheel. And it worked. People flocked to see Lennox and they bought the sandwich in droves.

46. Be willing to listen. Very few good leaders lead by dictatorship. When your team members have something to say, hear them out. In this case, Piers has had lots of good ideas in the past and his ideas - to use Lennox and a twist on the best-selling sandwich - probably won the task for Hydra.

47. Know your track record. Everyone makes mistakes. But don’t let one poor performance take you down. In a professional manner, remind people about your past success and hopefully, as in Trace’s case, your past performance will outweigh one bad outing.

48. Be likable. In the cutthroat world of business, this seems like some unusual advice. But in this situation, it was apparent that Trace’s likability had a lot to do with the fact that he earned a spot in the final four while Stephen was fired.

49. Always have an “elevator speech” ready. It’s a short, well-rehearsed explanation of your accomplishments and plans. Write one and practice it - it can be critical to your success.

50. Never say die! Your ability to dig deeper and solve problems ultimately determines your success.

51. Lofty goals and business success really can go hand-in-hand. When you see an opportunity to do well by doing good, explore it.

52. Be assertive and say no. When people are being unreasonable, say so fast - and then explain why. You have to set guidelines quickly about what you can and cannot do.

53. Remember why you are building your success. It’s not for greed or dollars. It’s an expression of care for the people you love.

54. Ask people for help. And do it with your head held high. They will feel good to help you - and you’ll build your success at the same time.

55. Fight for causes that are bigger than you are. If you serve others as unswervingly as Piers did this season, you will enjoy personal success too.

When Mr. Trump created Celebrity Apprentice, he decided that the all the prize money would go to charities. Tito’s charity supported children, Stephen’s supported breast cancer - and the list goes on and on. It was an entertaining season - but the fact that it helped so many people made it stand head and shoulders higher than most any other program on the airwaves.

There you have it. 55 lessons from this season, all credits go to the Trump University, I hope this post was useful to all of you and all comments are welcome.

The Celebrity Apprentice Finale (The Winner)!

I would start the review about the last episode of the season by stating how strong the photo above is.

But,

I have to give Ivanka all the credits for looking astonishing at the charity even, I guess I really like her, not just because of her looks of course (before Mr. Trump kicks my butt like what happened with Gene) but also for standing out at the last board room and showing how business smart she is. I couldn’t help it but I do like her very much.

Down to business

2 hours season finale was the continue of the last episode and managing the last task, I can say that the competition was clean and unique, however only one can be chosen at the end, and after all that happened not just this episode but throughout the season, I think Piers was the winner for a lot of reasons.

Everyone got involved even Gene who was in business filming in Japan, and all said what they thought, but Mr. Trump made his decision and chose Piers.

Congratulation Piers on winning so many tasks, supporting a great charity and overall winning the first ever Celebrity Apprentice title.

Here is the last episode exclusive summery from the blog:

Piers Morgan becomes the first Celebrity Apprentice!

This season’s finale gave viewers three great experiences in one. First, it showed highlights of the season. Second, it delivered blow-by-blow coverage of Piers and Trace as they completed the season’s final task. And third, it took us live to the boardroom, where Mr. Trump named Piers the winner. What a blockbuster show!

Prerecorded footage showed Piers and Trace as they battled to win this season’s final task - a charity auction. It was interesting to see how both men made good on the strategies that they developed for winning the task. Trace held the line against the Backstreet Boys’ unreasonable requests and got them to present an excellent stage show. And Piers’ strategy work beautifully too. His high-end contacts spent tremendous sums of money at the auction. Howard Lutnick, CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, paid $200,000 for two of the prizes. And Simon Cowell was happy to bid $100,000 to go shopping with Ivanka Trump.

When the auction earnings were totaled, Piers had brought in $376,000, to Trace’s $64,000; Trace had sold $38,000 worth of tickets to the event, compared to $12,000 for Piers. Yet the competition was about more than money. When the two men got to the boardroom firing (held live onstage this week), Mr. Trump also explored how well they had handled all the aspects of the charity event. Mr. Trump then brought the season’s other celebrity contestants onto the stage and polled them about whether Piers or Trace should win.

Finally, both contestants made compelling appeals to Mr. Trump about their charities. Trace explained the anguish that a food allergy had caused his family, and spoke compellingly about the importance of the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network. And to drive home the importance of the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, Piers invited wounded veterans onto the stage. Their appearance brought tears to the eyes of many members of the live audience.

With only a minute remaining in the show, Mr. Trump showered Trace with well-deserved praise for being such a wonderful human being. But Piers’ stellar performance in every task of the season won the day - and Mr. Trump named him Celebrity Apprentice.

This season, Celebrity Apprentice raised more than $1 million for the contestants’ charities - a sum that Mr. Trump augmented with an additional $250,000 of his own.

My thoughts:

I decided to come up with all of my thought and lessons learned from the entire season in the next post. Hope you like it.

The Celebrity Apprentice 12 (A Twist)!

The final four became the final TWO!

Only Carol, Lennox, Piers and Trace remained as this week’s episode began. But just as the four contestants were getting ready to do battle, Mr. Trump delivered a surprise. They would all undergo a grilling by two leading business commentators, Erin Burnett and Jim Cramer (Again I think he is a genius in his field). Erin and Jim would then name two people for Mr. Trump to fire. In only two hours, only two finalists would remain!

Here is episode 12 exclusive summery from the blog:

Erin and Jim interviewed the candidates, then singled out Piers and Lennox to be fired. But Mr. Trump fired Lennox and Carol instead. He said that wanted to see Piers and Trace do battle in the final task.

Mr. Trump then announced the final project. There would be a major charity event, and the two men would supervise different aspects of it. One of them would handle the catering and a live charity auction; the other would manage the décor and the Backstreet Boys, who would perform at the event. The winner would be picked based on his ability to 1) sell tickets to the event; 2) raise money; and 3) handle his assigned tasks.

Then Mr. Trump brought back Carol, Lennox, Marilu and Stephen to help Piers and Trace. New teams were chosen. Trace’s would include himself, Lennox and Marilu. Piers got Carol and Stephen.

Piers and Trace divided up responsibilities. Piers would handle the auction and catering. Trace would manage entertainment, décor and food.

Piers went to see Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York - the famous “Fergie” - who promised to bring in money. Trace chartered two jets to fly country celebrities to New York. His goal was to “fill the room with cowboy hats.” He also asked his country contacts to contribute guitars and other collectibles to be auctioned.

Stephen started to try to get celebrities to attend the event, but simply stopped trying when his contacts were not available on short notice. And Trace was having a tough time with the Backstreet Boys, who were demanding two dressing rooms equipped with a lavish assortment of drinks and health foods.

The charity event will not be shown until next week, but as this week’s episode drew to a close, the battle lines are drawn. Can Piers bring in enough bucks to score a win? And can Trace rein in the Backstreet Boys and bring off a blockbuster show? We’ll know next week!

My thoughts:

As much as I don’t agree on repeating last season finals, but I think it worked out for the show’s ratings.

Always have an “elevator speech” ready. It’s a short, well-rehearsed explanation of your accomplishments and plans. Write one and practice it - it can be critical to your success, that’s why Lennox was gone.

Be assertive and say no. When people are being unreasonable, say so fast - and then explain why. You have to set guidelines quickly about what you can and cannot do.

The Celebrity Apprentice 11 (More Food)!

Only 5 left, things will get more interesting.

Speed working, 2 hours to prepare, 2 hours to sell, I think Trace and Stephen did a better job than Hydra, but the smaller number was a factor in their loss.

Here is episode 11 exclusive summery from the blog:

The teams designed sandwiches for Quiznos, and then sold them without calling on any of their high-powered friends. That meant sheer salesmanship and pavement pounding as they couldn’t rely on any big spenders to pay big bucks for a single sandwich. Whoever sold the most sandwiches would win.

At Empresario, Trace stepped up as project manager. Although he has brought in a lot of money for his team during past tasks, he’s yet to earn money for his charity with a win as project manager. At Hydra, it was Lennox’s turn again as team leader. He took the helm with the ever-present Piers offering suggestions at every turn.

When it came time to create their sandwiches, the teams took different tacks. Team Hydra chose to make only a minor modification to Quiznos’ most popular sandwich: a fairly basic turkey and cheese concoction. They named it the Champ Sandwich after, who else, but their resident champ, Lennox. Over at Empresario, Trace came up with something much more original, a unique sirloin creation called the Cowboy Club.

Both teams took to the streets early to promote their sandwiches. At Empresario, they immediately had flyers printed up (featuring both Trace and Stephen in cowboy hats) and were handing them out well before selling time started. Things were rockier at Hydra where the flyers didn’t come through until minutes before the sandwiches were ready to be sold.

Both teams seemed to do a good job drawing people into their restaurants. Hydra used the Lennox star power, promising autographs and photos with the boxer to anyone who bought a sandwich. While Hydra’s Piers was yelling like a carnival barker, over at Empresario Trace had a much more laid-back approach, wooing customers in a calmer, more low-key way.

Although it looked like both teams had a steady stream of customers, in the end Hydra won, selling 313 Champ Sandwiches to Empresario’s 253 Cowboy Clubs. In the boardroom, Trace was willing to take the blame for the loss. “I made every call. I called every shot,” he admitted to Mr. Trump. “The onus is on me completely today.”

But Ivanka pointed out that Trace has consistently raised more money on every other task than Stephen and, when Mr. Trump asked who wanted this more, Trace spoke up and emotionally spoke about how much he wanted to win for his charity. In the end, although Trace was project manager and had led his team to a loss, Mr. Trump felt that his past performance made him more valuable than Stephen, so Stephen was the one to go.

My thoughts:

Keep it simple, listen to your team, and you will be on your way to win.

The Celebrity Apprentice 10 (Slaughter)!

Episode started at Mr. Trump apartment, one of the best apartments in the world, and his family was there too, he introduced his son Barron, which he thinks that will be a great entrepreneur, I think the kid is very smart for 18 months old and I hope to see him around us soon.

Biggest win in the history of the show, biggest lose as well.

Mr. Trump called it Slaughter, and Omarosa is finally gone.

I never thought she belonged to this season any way, but I did say the Piers have big potential and that he was just misunderstood, that being said, he brought the most amount of cash in one episode, one day, in the history of this show.

Piers did say that he lost his cool and got mad instead of getting even. Well I think that everything in it’s place and the show continues to go on.

Here is episode 10 exclusive summery from the blog:

The teams faced an artistic challenge this week. They each had to pick one artist represented by the Moti Hasson Gallery in New York. The team that made the most money selling works by their artist would win – and they only had one evening to sell.

Omarosa, who got fired because of her performance in a similar project during her previous Apprentice season, claimed the job of project manager at Empresario. She said she had “something to prove.” At Hydra, Piers took the leadership post for a personal reason too – he wanted to destroy Omarosa.

Both teams met with the owner of the Moti Hasson Gallery to select their artists. Hydra picked artist Shirley Shor for a strategic business reason: she was the only artist whose works were available in limited editions. That meant that Hydra could sell multiple copies of her works and have a large inventory to sell, despite the limited wall space in the gallery. Meanwhile, Empresario decided to sell works on paper by David Kramer.

With their artists chosen, both teams started to call their high-profile friends, inviting them to buy artworks. Piers called the British celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and other high-rollers, who agreed to come buy art.

As the teams set up their display rooms, Lennox realized that his team would be displaying their works in the back rooms of the gallery, behind Empresario’s display area. It was a big disadvantage. Before buyers could even see Hydra’s wares, they would have to pass through Empresario’s selling area.

As the buyers arrived at the gallery, Omarosa stood at the front door and shuttled people toward her team’s display. When Lennox saw what she was up to, he positioned himself next to her and directed traffic back to his team’s rooms.

A few of Stephen’s contacts showed up – but a lot more of Piers’ did too, and they bought heavily. Things were not going well for Empresario. One of Stephen’s contacts even blew right by him and bought something from Carol on the other team!

When it was time to tally the sales, everyone could sense that Hydra had outsold Empresario by a wide margin. Omarosa looked ashen. Empresario had, in fact, sold only three out of their available 16 paintings, earning only $7,000. In contrast, Hydra sold 14 out of their 20 works, earning a stunning $164,000.

Mr. Trump quickly dubbed the defeat, “The biggest slaughter in the history of the Apprentice.”

Piers gloated about his “personal” defeat of Omarosa. Rhapsodizing over his win, he suggested that Mr. Trump fire two people on the Empresario team because of their staggering defeat.

When the Hydra team left the boardroom, Omarosa immediately began to play the blame game, saying “I am only as good as my sales team.” But Ivanka and Mr. Trump were not buying it. In a last-ditch effort to save her neck, Omarosa then started to attack Piers, saying, “I know some things about him.” When Mr. Trump asked her what those “things” were, she made incredible statements that Piers was gay (”I think he’s in the closet”). As proof, she pointed out that Piers had asked both Trace and Stephen to take their shirts off in previous tasks this season. Mr. Trump then invited Piers back into the room to defend himself. Piers took him up on the offer by dashing into the room, kissing Trace on the cheek, then dashing out again. Piers’ ploy worked well and made Omarosa’s attack on his sexuality seem doubly absurd.

In the wake of the biggest rout ever on the show, Mr. Trump had hardly any choice. He fired Omarosa, the project manager.

My thoughts:

Do not forget the law of supply and demand, I think Hydra won because of that.

When Omarosa said that she “knew some things” about Piers, she was engaging in classic character assassination by implying that she had some “dirt” that she did not wish to reveal. Then when Mr. Trump called her bluff, she fabricated absurd, un-businesslike accusations against Piers – and her political house of cards collapsed around her, sooner or later, lying always gets exposed. When Mr. Trump is in control, it gets exposed even faster. If you don’t play fair, you will eventually get trapped by your own lies.

Also, when Omarosa accused Piers of being gay, she stepped completely outside norms of acceptable business behavior. In business, you cannot discriminate against people on the basis of their race, religion or sexual preference. Let’s get real here!

But Piers was not all nice this week either. He threatened to hit Stephen! Threatening violence against a colleague will get you fired from any job – maybe even locked up. Let that be a lesson.

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