Sean Yazbeck Comments on Celebrity Apprentice Episode Three

“I am the benevolent dictator... does everyone understand that?” said the ever-entertaining and charismatic Gene Simmons. It sounded like a Gordon Gecko quote straight out of the film Wall Street. And I loved it.

Gene’s style of leadership is your old-school Gordon Gecko-esque, thick-skinned alpha male. And it’s all completely natural. He’s confident in everything he does, believes he is capable of achieving anything and has the consistent mental posture for success. These are all the winning qualities of a true leader. So why was he fired? Ego. Ego is the number reason why so many quality candidates on The Apprentice are fired too early.

My good friend Omarosa pointed out that, “Gene Simmons had no idea about the product. In fact he didn’t even know the name of the product.” Gene sending two people instead of six to the client meeting was understandable. When your company wins a new a client, it doesn’t send the entire company along for the meeting, however, it does send the person who is responsible for the delivering the service. In this case, Gene. Gene’s ego, however, prevented him from attending the meeting and having any idea of what the client wanted.

Gene’s an amazingly successful businessman, entertainer and marketer. And to his credit, he does embody all the attributes of a good leader:

• Integrity: People with integrity tell the truth and they keep their word. This is amongst Mr. Trump’s primary values.

• Intelligence: You need to have an intellectual curiosity and breadth of knowledge to work with or lead other smart people.

• Maturity: You need the ability to handle stress and setbacks, and enjoy success with equal parts of joy and humility.

• Energy: Embrace action, relish change and energize others. Energy is infectious.

• Courage: The courage to make tough yes-or-no decisions.

• Execution: The ability to get the job done.

However, on The Apprentice you have to remember that you’re surrounded by equally successful and intelligent business people. In business you should manage your subordinates with the same care that you manage your boss. I’m not sure Gene has ever had a boss but nonetheless, losing the ego and interacting in a more respectful way shows integrity and would have been looked upon more favorably by his teammates.

Making such an effort to adapt to his teammates would have meant that they would’ve all nominated Nely to be fired. But then would an egoless Gene have been as entertaining? Probably not.