The tension in the Board room is palpable. Apprentice wannabes shift in their seats...They fidget, feign confidence, smile unconvincingly...Some are deer in the headlights while others take on a cunning, wolf face...The oddly coifed icon enters...Let the games begin...
The would-be leaders of American business scold, rat-pack one another, posture, blame, attempt to manipulate, say dumb things, justify, castigate...and generally take no responsibility for their own actions...
"Listen, I was the Project Manager. I gave them the responsibility for planning, marketing, negotiating and executing...and they didn't do their jobs...I told them what to do and they didn't do it...they didn't respect me...I don't respect them...they should be fired, not me!"
After a little more drama the boss utters those famous words and someone drags designer luggage into the night and hails a cab...forever secure in celebrity, smugness and self-righteous delusion.
OK...so that's your favorite guilty pleasure...
Yes, I watch The Apprentice every week, yelling back at the TV, cheering on my favorites, appalled at the villains and incompetents and dissecting it all with relish...
So why are you admitting this?
Because there is a drop or two of very disturbing "reality" that comes through every Thursday night.
Are you that naive?
Look, I know folks are chosen because they make for entertaining TV. Most of them have big personalities and are reasonably attractive and will keep us awake for the hour so the sponsors can sell us cool stuff.
And your point is?
There's something very odd about it all...supposedly the "prize" is to apprentice as a manager in a corporate Goliath and go on to wealth and success after this '15 minutes of fame.'
But who chose these "leaders-to-be?" What type of leadership do they portray?
This season pitted the "Book Smarts" versus the "Street Smarts." The BS team came across like corporate weenies who were clueless about business and the world. The SS team strode about issuing orders and bad-mouthing each other. Both managed to win some and lose some 'til the big boss restructured them and got the same results.
Let's look at the folks the big boss 'hired' in the first place. On the one hand, they all had purported success whether working for others or running their own businesses. Some seem creative and some competent. A few have a sense of fun and adventure.
On the other hand they often...
* Miss the true business problem to be solved or stumble into it by substituting cleverness for savvy...
* Let their egos get in the way of their goals, their teams and their performance...
* Equate 'leadership' with dictatorship or withdrawal...
* Believe 'delegation' is dump and run or tell and scold...
* Think dialogue is character assassination, denigration or worse...
* Seem totally unaware of late 20th and early 21st century advances in people and project management...
Perhaps most dooming...they seemed to have missed the lessons on "the buck stops here" and "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen." Harry Truman is rolling in his grave if he's forced to watch these 'future leaders.'
Sorry, Big Boss. It seems that year after year you bring on a passel of nincompoops and worst. You give them no guidance or mentoring and they follow your 'lead.' You don't take responsibility for choosing folks who will take considerable work by very accomplished managers and a good therapist to ever become admirable and successful leaders.
You 'delegate' and walk away and then blame them...so they are actually emulating your style...
So, Donald, because of your failure to lead and to choose people with real potential and nurture them and demonstrate great leadership...
YOU'RE FIRED!
Want to learn about a REAL LEADER we can all learn from...
Read my FREE article profiling John Zumwalt, CEO of the engineering firm PBS&J. It will be on my website soon...Can't wait? Send me a note at DoctorRebeccaSR@cs.com and I'll send you the article that appeared in the January/February 2005 issue of InFocus magazine in my column 'Stratitude.' If you want to read an interesting periodical with diverse opinions and profiles, subscribe today at http://www.infocus-mag.com/
Want to learn about some other cool leaders? The March/April 2005 issue of InFocus carries my profile of four women CIOs in Florida (to celebrate Women's History Month) and each is a study in diverse styles of leadership effectiveness. It will appear on our website soon.
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CATCH US IN PUBLIC
Quality Assurance Institute International IT Quality Conference
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* Keynote: Deming Déjà vu: What Today’s Quality Professionals Can Learn From the Quality Pioneers
'Dr. Rebecca' Staton-Reinstein
Are you a manager or leader in the IT arena? Do you have responsibility for assuring that the business solutions you deliver (software/firmware/hardware) actually meet customers' expectations and help them operate the business successfully? If so, then this session is for you...the entire conference sponsored by the Quality Assurance Institute focuses on creating value for the organization by creating value for the customer's business.
Want to hear the keynoters and tutorial leaders talk about what's in it for you? Visit:
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July 11 – 13 and December 19 – 21.
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It's specially designed for newer IT managers (or as a refresher for experienced ones) and helps you take a more strategic, leadership-oriented approach to your success and bottom-line results.
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RESOURCES
NEW KEYNOTE RESOURCE:
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www.AdvantageLeadership.com/articles
Our management articles are no longer available to the public on the Management Centre Europe site. They will soon be available on our website. To receive a FREE copy now just send an email with the titles you want: DoctorRebecca@cs.com
* The Do’s and Don’ts of Strategic Planning
* Change static job descriptions into dynamic performance plans
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* Quality Assurance Institute: http://www.qaiusa.com/products/index.html
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"Dr. Rebecca” Staton-Reinstein, Ph.D., President
Advantage Leadership, Inc.
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