Lessons Learned (So Far) on The Apprentice

Chairman, Trump University

We're only a couple weeks into this season's Apprentice, but there are already many good business lessons to be learned. So far, the candidates are making some textbook mistakes. As usual, they always think they're smarter and more clever than everyone else, but it always boils down not to what they think, but to what they actually do.

In the very first episode, I felt like it was a lesson in radar awareness. In the business world, it's never good to fly too far below the radar. Although you never risk your neck, you never take chances which means you never really shine. On the other hand, you never want to go out of your way to make a scene. Unless you're calling attention to great work or fixing a problem, rarely does anything good come from it.

In the first boardroom meeting, I was taking Tarek to task for his mismanagement when Summer interrupted me. I wasn't talking to her. It had absolutely nothing to do with her, but she felt the need to be heard.

Summer got my attention all right. For her outspokenness, she was the first person to hear "You're fired!" this season. The lesson? By all means speak up if you have something important to say. But weigh your words carefully first. The squeaky wheel certainly gets attention. But make sure it's the kind of attention you really want to get.

In the second episode, both Stacy and Pepi were utterly distracted by the antics of Brent. Stacy accused him of inappropriate and threatening behavior, which forced Pepi to get involved in their argument. Stacy's a high-powered defense attorney, but she couldn't handle Brent who is an utter mess? There's a simple lesson there. Watch what you say if you want to maintain your credibility.

And as far as Pepi is concerned, he was the project manager. A good boss can't be wishy-washy. He has to know how to resolve conflict and he sure can't waste time, as Pepi did, by going back and forth between feuding parties trying to be a mediator. Both Pepi and Stacy were fired.

Finally, in the third episode, there were lessons everywhere, but the most obvious was, "Be prepared." Synergy's skeet shooting event fell through, but Andrea quickly came up with golf-cart racing as Plan B. Meanwhile, at Gold Rush, there was no preparation whatsoever. The models they hired to promote the product knew nothing about it. They looked ridiculous. When the putting green they planned to use never materialized as well as it should have, the team should have scrapped it and come up with something else. It was no surprise when they lost the task.

Obviously, I'm biased, but this is why I think The Apprentice is such a great show. Every week you can learn lessons that can help you out in real-life business situations. And hopefully you'll never hear, You're fired.

The Apprentice airs Monday nights at 9 pm on NBC.