Home : Let Your People Shine: What I Learned from this Week's Apprentice

Let Your People Shine: What I Learned from this Week's Apprentice

Posted by Sean Yazbeck on 3/21/2007 at 2:10 PM
Posted in Apprentice, Management, Leadership

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Talented individuals are the driving force behind a good company. They’re the difference between high performance and mediocrity.

As a manager, you need to surround yourself with the best people. But you have to do something else too . . .

You have to let them shine

I liked the fact that James was confident enough in himself to do just that with his team this week. It was clear that Tim and Nicole knew just how to handle production and post-production. So James let them run with it - and he then wasn’t afraid to pay them kudos where it was due.

Managers, especially new ones, are all too often afraid to let their subordinates shine. They fear that giving credit to the people they manage will take away from their own performance.

Don’t. You’ll get more out of your employees if you encourage them to shine and then pass the praise around when things go right.

But there’s another thing too, which turns being a supervisor a leadership opportunity. You have to take responsibility when things go wrong.

Do YOU Have Questions for Sean?

For an opportunity to participate in a free Trump University teleseminar with Sean Yazbeck, click here!

As winner of The Apprentice (2006), Sean Yazbeck, was selected by Donald Trump to oversee construction of the 5 star hotel condominium, Trump SoHo, in New York City. Yazbeck's role included overseeing negotiations on all acquisitions and purchases for this $500 million project.

Yazbeck has since been working with the Trump Institute to set-up WAVSYS, a national technical staffing company providing individuals, project teams and strategic outsourcing services for engagements in IT and telecommunications. As Founder and CEO, WAVSYS leverages Yazbeck's 12-years of unrivaled recruitment expertise, for which he was awarded the EB1 Green Card for "persons of extraordinary ability".

In 2006, in recognition of his multiple achievements the mayor of Miami Dade County, Carlos Alvarez, named June 20th, as "Sean Yazbeck Day" in Miami-Dade County. More recently in 2008 the Governor of Kentucky, Steve Beshear, bestowed the honory title of "Kentucky Colonel" on Sean Yazbeck "in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to the nation".

Since winning The Apprentice, Yazbeck has appeared as Boardroom Advisor to Mr. Trump on The Apprentice, hosted his own show, Reality Trailblazers, on the TV Guide Channel and has appeared on numerous shows such as Miss Universe, MTV Video Music Awards, Live with Regis and Kelly, 1 vs. 100, Soap Talk and Identity.

Yazbeck graduated top of his year with a First Class Honors Degree from Southampton Solent University in England. A British national, he is due to gain dual American Citizenship in 2010.

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6 Comments

Posted by member1539196 on 03/22/2007 2:39 AM

I agree with Sean that leaders need to let their star employees shine.

This however, should not be confused with letting any employee run the whole show or delegating tasks completely without monitoring. That reflects a purely laissez faire style and is a potential mine field of unpleasant surprises.

A good leader is one who is sufficiently astute to discern the strengths and weaknesses of their team members, and one who keeps his task leaders on their toes, without micro-managing them.

That said, I recognize that it is often difficult for managers who have had always been tight controllers to release their hold over their staff. The key is finding a delicate balance between control and delegation.

While it is simply too easy for us to critique our staff, we as leaders should support their professional development, whether via mentoring or leadership workshops.

Andrew Wee
AAE Immigration
http://www.aaeimmigration.com
http://www.invest-in-canada.com

Posted by member1366890 on 03/22/2007 6:04 AM

Great post! Great message! You know, in ancient Egypt, pharaons have lions beside them. This animals sense liars. Only few could be advisors and near to pharaon and his family. Liar detector with teeth:-)

Ina Matijevic***

Posted by user89187 on 03/22/2007 6:22 AM

TRUMP FOR PRESIDENT!

Posted by member1446977 on 03/23/2007 10:24 PM

what i learnt from the week 9 is that sometimes it is better not to think twice while taking tough decisions based on real facts and better being direct using your head (brain) rather than your heart (feelings)....Heidi has been in such a tough position when asked by Muna to take a very simple and hard decision about whether supporting her or not...well it's really tough for Heidi to take any good decisions because Muna craftily played her game on the feelings' sides while awaiting a final answer from Heidi who was totally confused and if - hopefully Mr. Trump intervened to make an end to that silly game - Mr. Trump didn't intervened that things would be lasted that long without any final results...So to cut it short very often in business people and most importantly deciders while taking important decisions concerning their people will be finding themselves in the battlefield opposing the head (brain) and the heart (feelings) and in order to take a better decision the best would be for sure to think about the facts instead of thinking about people's closeness or relationships and so doing without thinking twice and being straight decisive...

Ainrické Bo. Beothé

Posted by member1545375 on 03/26/2007 9:23 AM

Sean's comments are great, but the 3/25/07 episode hit a low point when one team told a customer that the other team was lying in order to get the customer's business.

Then, in the board room, Donald said that nothing unethical was done.

Lying to a customer so that you get the business is a sad state of affairs that need not be taught. Lying is how corporations steal from investors and create a distrust in corporate America.

I don't thing the winning team did anything that would shine a light.

Perhaps, the premise that you are a team until you don't win, at which time you must turn on your team members in order to survive is a mode of operation that creates distrust in an organization.

Posted by Rachael Sutton #1253595 on 12/08/2008 8:47 PM

Mr. Yazbeck, I agree. The better your subordinates look, the better you look. It is a real gift to be able to bring out the greatness in others. People developers contribute real value to their organizations.

I once read a magazine article that explained how great organizations become mediocre. The explanation was that a very capable entrepreneur starts the company and performs like a "10" When the business grows beyond what he can handle he hires a "9" As it continues to grow, the "9" isn't about to hire someone as good as him or better, because that might be a threat - so he hires an "8" or a "7" and so it goes until you have a very poorly staffed ineffective company. I agree with you. Hire the best and let them shine!

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