This week’s Apprentice was one of the more refreshing episodes with the teams challenged to make money out of the rubbish that they collected. It certainly brought to life the saying “Where there’s muck there’s brass”. Actually there was more copper than brass but it appeared as if there is money to be made in collecting metals.
The teams were stepping well outside their comfort zone and the task required a good mix of skills including the ability to do hard manual labour work and to make a judgement on the value of what looked to me very much like junk.
Zoe Beresford led team Venture to a narrow loss with only a £6 difference in profit between the teams. That said Zoe did not cover herself in project management glory as she struggled with the concept of taking rubbish away for free when there was also high value metal as part of the deal. As a result she lost both of the rubbish removal contracts on offer to team Logic led by Helen Louise Milligan. Helen’s team did have a strategy and whilst they could easily have lost, I felt Helen generally managed her team quite capably.
In the boardroom Lord Sugar opted not to fire Zoe Beresford but picked out Edna Agbarha. Lord Sugar has been pretty clear this series that he is looking for someone he can work with and invest in. A key lesson for anyone with management development potential is that they need to manage relationships with their boss as well as colleagues by trying to understand how they think. Edna displayed a complete lack of understanding of Lord Sugar’s character. She just dug a massive hole for herself by emphasising her academic qualifications as a justification for why she should not be fired. This was the last thing Edna should have said to a man whose motto could be: “don’t tell me how hard you have worked or how clever you are, tell me what results you have achieved.”
My list of potential winners is now pretty short. For me Helen Louise Milligan is the hot favourite.
Vote here for the person you think will be the Apprentice winner.
By Jon Davies | Righttrack’s Digital Marketing Manager