You’re Fired

Donald Trump has made this phrase synonymous with his show, The Apprentice. Ask just about any manager in the real world if they enjoy the difficult task of firing someone, and I would be surprised if you got a single positive response. One thing about firing someone on The Apprentice – it’s not like they don’t know that the possibility exists…every single week.

I have gradually gotten to the point where I really like to watch the show. I like to observe how the Project Managers approach leadership, and sometimes I just shake my head as I watch the dark side of human nature at work.

After last week’s episode, a phrase from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War came to mind:

“Everyone likes security and dislikes danger.”

If you had the opportunity to watch last week’s episode, you saw Surya get fired in what amounted to a mutiny by his own team members (not that mutinies are all that uncommon on this show). Most people – including Trump – viewed Surya as a very talented and capable individual. However, like many managers in the real world, Surya assumed the Project Manager’s role without establishing any relationships with the team members.

A few weeks ago, Surya volunteered to move from one team to another, and after joining the new team, he immediately zoomed in to tell his new teammates what they needed to change in order to win the next task. You know that went over really well…the complaints from the team started immediately. In effect, he tried to assume control of the team based on technical ability alone, which, frankly, is very common in the business world.

Good lesson. The savvy manager – regardless of his or her talent – gets to know the people on the team and asks a whole lot of questions instead of jumping in and issuing orders. Surya is obviously a good analyst, an excellent planner, and has a solid grasp of business fundamentals. Funny thing about teams, though – you have to earn their respect in order to lead them.

All that aside, I thought about Sun Tzu’s quote because of James, one of the remaining members on Surya’s (losing) team. The knock on James – and what nearly got him fired instead of Surya – is his tendency to identify a potential misstep on a project and repeatedly (and loudly) voice his “concern” about it during the task. Why? So that he can position himself in the boardroom and claim, in the event of a loss, that he never truly supported something the team did. This, seemingly, provides James with a level of “security” in case things go badly.

One serious problem with this tactic – people really despise it. A team that was completely and totally determined to get Surya fired following their loss were somewhat persuaded to show James the door instead. It will be interesting to see what happens to James and his team in the next couple of tasks. Not to worry, however. There is plenty of dysfunction in the other team as well.

(Prediction: Heidi will be in the final two, and is my current favorite to win.)