Last time when I was talked about leadership, I promised to share with you a few more lessons from the last episode of the Celebrity Apprentice 2.
This episode had a very interesting twist, which led to some great learnings.
Pay close attention because this is going to assist you in your entrepreneurial business. It will also help you if you have a job to move ahead. So let’s get started…
After the last task was over everyone was called back into the boardroom. At this point a new task was assigned. There was no relief after finishing the last task and everyone was worn out. But this is where the leaders get separated from everyone else.
The task was to auction off jewelry and clothes from Ivanka Trump’s collection.
Annie Duke and Joan Rivers were the project managers for team Athena and team Kotu respectively. All the team members were exhausted but they sucked it up and did it anyway.
Key Lesson: To get ahead sometimes you have to do things that other people won’t. This separates the winners from the mediocre. The question is which one are you?
More importantly, which one would you rather be?
It’s always about choice. You have to choose to be the best. When you do you’ll be amazed at how far you get in life.
Let’s look at team Athena first. Melissa Rivers, TV producer, was in charge of picking the jewelry and Brandi Broderick, former Playboy playmate, was in charge of the picking the clothes for the models.
Annie Duke, professional poker player, was working on raising money for charity. The one thing that was interesting to note was Annie was very pushy when asking for money. In some ways this was really bad. However, since it was for charity it’s not all that bad. However, you’ll attract more flies with honey than you will with vinegar.
Key Lesson: When asking for money from your clients, make sure you don’t get pushy.
If you do you could be viewed as a used-car salesperson. Is that what you want?
I didn’t think so…
At this point Annie also said to the group that the person who brings in the least amount of money will be brought back into the boardroom. This puts on a lot of pressure onto the team even though they may be contributing in other ways.
However, for this task it was an appropriate measurement.
Now pay close attention to this… Jesse James, entrepreneur, mentioned he didn’t want to use his best connections unless it was for his charity.
There is a big problem here.
First, any time you are part of a team, you must always be giving your best. This attitude will catch up with you eventually and come back to bite you. Any time you give less than your best what does that say about you?
Second, you may think this was strategic, however, this is also living in a limited universe.
During the task Jesse James also questioned Annie Duke if she was really going to win. This really starts to raise doubts within the team, which is never good. Any time a doubt is raised from a team member, you can literally take out the entire team if the leader does not step up congruently and lead the rest of the team.
One good thing to note about Annie Duke was when she was asking for money, she asked for very specific amounts.
This let the other person know exactly what Annie wanted. This is a great lesson. When you are dealing with your clients make sure you ask them for what you want. Don’t beat around the bush.
When you beat around the bush, you’ll receive far less than you would if you just asked for what you want.
There was one more challenge — Brande Roderick got very self absorbed about how she looked instead of focusing on the rest of the models. From a team perspective, she lost sight of the bigger picture.
Key Lesson: As a leader, you must always put your team ahead of yourself.
Now, let’s take a look at team Kotu…
Natalie Gulbis, professional golfer, was picking the jewelry. Clint Black, country star, was the auctioneer. All the while, Joan Rivers, comedian, was focused on what Annie Duke was doing. She had a bad attitude and it took away from the task at hand.
Unfortunately, Natalie picked small pieces that were elegant that anyone could wear in contrast to the other team.
Melissa Rivers picked very large pieces that were big and chunky because it was easier to see and it looked like you received much more for the money that was being asked.
This is a good lesson in understanding your task and what you have to do.
It’s also a lesson in perception…
Joan Rivers knew this constraint but never informed Natalie Gulbis about how to pick the correct jewelry. This one mistake could be the difference between winning and losing.
Natalie also had a great idea to use an arch rival of Annie Duke’s who has lots of wealthy friends. This was a great strategy and certainly thinking outside of the box. That’s what entrepreneurs do. Entrepreneurs solve problems in unusual ways and get paid for it.
Donald Trump brought back to Peirs Morgan, former Celebrity Apprentice winner.
Peirs was to evaluate and keep an eye on Joan and Annie’s teams and report back to the Donald about what was happening.
There were some good observations that Peirs made…
Brande Roderick pointed out that Melissa Rivers didn’t get nervous about raising money during this task. Peirs made the statement that the task is all about raising money and that’s where the focus really should be.
Peirs also pointed out that Hershel Walker, former Heisman Trophy winner, and Clint Black were taking too much time talking with the models instead of focusing on the task.
Since this is a charity event where money is to be raised, it’s important to stay focused on the task and prioritize raising money early on before you run out of time.
As a leader you must focus on the highest priority items first.
During the auction Annie Duke did really well as the auctioneer. She also worked the crowd where she had several of her friends, which had lots of money. In contrast, Clint Black started off the auction terribly. No one bought the first item and he didn’t interact with the audience.
Finally Joan Rivers came out and started working with Clint to turn around what was happening and they did a great job as a team.
Now that’s leadership!
Key Lesson: As a leader sometimes you have to step in and help out where you’re team in not doing well.
In the end, team Kotu made a $92,000 profit. Not Bad! However, team Athena, who was focused on bringing in money early on, brought in a profit of $153,000.
There were two things that happened that made the difference. First, team Athena understood the jewelry styles that would sell at an auction much better than team Kotu. Second, they focused on bringing in more money early on.
Another interesting point was Peirs Morgan was not happy because he was outdone by Annie Duke.
This is just being sour grapes. Just because someone outdoes what you did previously doesn’t mean you should be feeling sorry for yourself and getting all upset. This will not help you in the long term.
It’s far better to focus on what you’re going to do next, which will be even bigger yet.
In the boardroom Donald Trump immediately went after Natalie Gulbis for picking the wrong jewelry. He also went after Jesse James for not using his contacts. After all, he is married to Sandra Bullock. There should be no shortage of money between her and her contacts.
Ultimately, Natalie got fired because the jewelry was too hard see and people couldn’t see the value.
Also, noteworthy, during the boardroom Joan Rivers compared Annie Duke with Hitler because she was mad at Annie for going after Melissa for not bringing in money.
Key Lesson: In business there is never a reason to hit someone below the belt with a comment like Joan Rivers did.
It does no good and what does it say about Joan Rivers personally?
Would you want this to be you?
Of course not. So don’t do it to anyone else.
Any time you put someone down that automatically makes it look like you are taking a superior position. No one likes this and it will cost you a lot of money if you decide to do this in business. I suggest you shut your mouth if you have nothing good to say.
In the long run it really doesn’t matter. So why put out negative energy.
There were quite a few very good lessons from this episode of the Celebrity Apprentice 2. Now it’s your turn…
Write a Comment and let me know what you learned. More importantly share with me how you’re going to use this information to build your business and make more money. When you write a comment sharing your learnings you’ll be moving yourself forward more quickly.
Take a moment right now and Write Your Comment and cement in your success.
Until next time…
To Your Success,
Dr. Andy Fuehl
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