The Official Apprentice Blog with comments and editorial by former Apprentice Winners and Trump University Faculty.

In the days since the season finale of Celebrity Apprentice, Blogs and articles have been buzzing about whether Annie Duke or Joan Rivers really deserved to win. There is much to be said about that question, to be sure. But I would like to make some observations about something else entirely today, by analyzing why some of the strongest candidates did not win. Case Study One: Brande Roderick Brande was a terrific candidate at the start of the season. In the very first task, she parked her team’s truck right in front of Playboy’s New York headquarters so that her colleagues there could more...

Annie vs. Joan in the Final Battle If you believe that that only one kind of person can be successful in business, you haven’t been watching Celebrity Apprentice this season. Because Annie Duke and Joan Rivers are the finalists, and two people couldn’t be more different. Let’s take a closer look at each of them to see what we can learn, starting with Joan. Joan Rivers When Mr. Trump asked Joan whether she had enough energy to carry on through the final week, Joan pointed to her long history as a survivor and said that if she had to, she would push the final task more...

Some candidates were getting stronger this week, others were getting weaker - and a few were essentially holding steady. Let’s take a look to see what we can learn. CANDIDATES WHO LOST GROUND THIS WEEK Jesse, possibly the strongest contender in earlier episodes, behaved so badly this week that he did himself a great deal of harm. He stopped contributing to his team. He swore at Clint. And there seemed to be no reason for him to behave erratically, beyond the fact that he had left one team for another. That was hardly a reason to throw away his chances of success. Melissa’s performance more...

At the end of Episode Nine last week, only seven contenders remained. Instead of commenting on the tasks we saw last week, I’d like to take my commentary this week in a different direction, by offering each of the remaining contestants a few suggestions on how to improve their positions in the weeks ahead - and perhaps even come out as the ultimate winner. Let’s talk about them in alphabetical order: Annie - Annie, you are a poker champion. That means you can accurately assess your current situation (the cards you are holding), weigh risks (what can go wrong) and then make and more...

When people start their careers, they don’t have many assets working for them, apart from their appearance, attitude and possibly their education. After they start to work, they begin to build their greatest asset. You might think that I am referring to experience, but I am not. Because the greatest asset of all is your reputation. It sees you through hard times and saves you when blame is flying around. It is also your most important asset if you are looking for a job. Your experience counts then, true, but not as much as your reputation does. When many people are saying more...