A rarity from me here - a blog based around a TV programme. I wasn't interested in the previous series but somehow I seem to have got caught up in The Apprentice this year, to the point that I'll watch it on OnDemand or iPlayer if I miss the original showing.
Aside from watching a bunch of blundering idiots fail consistently at the simplest of tasks, my biggest concern is the number of people I have met in industry that these gormless morons remind me of. This was highlighted this week by a segment whereby the interviewers ("top" business people) fed back their opinions on the candidates to Alan Sugar, highlighting such rather crucial inefficiencies as dishonesty, bad communication, lack of negotiating skills and an inability to use the English language correctly. Despite the many concerns, only one person was fired at a stage where three were due to be dismissed. Her biggest crime?
Being an individual.
The fact that Lucinda is motivated by success and a personal drive to be the best, not simply money, was also seen as a weakness by Mr Sugar and his team.
Is this really the state of the world in which we live today? We educate our children to be successful, but if success is judged purely in monetary terms is it any wonder that society has so many ills? A "successful business person" is not one that may help find a cure for cancer, ensures a good standard of care is provided to the elderly, helps under privileged children or cares about the welfare of the personnel they employ - they simply make money.
The programme has shown the lengths that candidates will go to in order to obtain the well-paid position on offer - bribery, deceit, hijacking, defamation of character and outright lying. In spite of all this, media coverage prefers to take a righteous stance and cast the participants as morons for each individual mistake they make. Now although I won't deny that the majority of the candidates are complete morons, it's very easy to watch from the outside and claim that they should have done this, that or the other AFTER the event, and after Mr Sugar has explained what they should have done. Put yourself in their shoes - in that environment with other morons constantly in your ear there's a good chance that you may have done something equally as stupid.
The biggest tragedy of all is that this programme accurately represents British business today. The greedy and manipulative survive, while the honest and innocent suffer. Lee pointed out that "...nice guys don't get anywhere..." in business and although that may not be entirely true, genuine people will always struggle within a business environment. The fact that Lucinda cared was enough to cause her downfall - you can't allow human feelings to affect business decisions. I applaud Lucinda for attempting to take her stance into an organisation run by Alan Sugar and while there are people like her out there, there is hope yet.
Money may make the world go around, but there's a hell of a lot more to be said for showing some humanity.
