Experience Management and Leadership @ “The Apprentice”

I would like to start with a brief introduction to “The apprentice” for all of you who do not know about it. It is reality based TV show in which 15 candidates compete for one job for 15 weeks. All the candidates have impressive credentials, with some leading their companies and some with best education in the world from the likes of Harvard, Boston, and Cambridge et al. Some are street smart high school dropouts as well. The Job is to run one of the companies of Mr. Donald Trump who is a biggest real estate developer of New York City and owns more than 100 companies. Mr. Donald trump is a great leader and is highly respected for everyone in USA. He enjoys a true celebrity status.
All of what has been said by me would not be making any sense if I miss this word, which is the spirit of the whole show, Leadership. There is a great emphasis of leadership qualities and the respect a leader should command from the team.
As management students we have read a lot about Leadership. We have tried our best to define it, understand the spirit of it and lots more. But personally I was not able to appreciate it, until now. I had a vague idea of what leadership is. Also we read about “Type A” personalities, different types of leaders which some with dictator like qualities and some who believe in engaging their team and lot more terms which have started to sound more like a cliché by now.
Now here is one TV show which has got everything into it, which can enable anybody to understand and experience all the jargon they come across or have read text books of management. Prima facie it may look like any other TV show where people come together, compete and somebody wins. Its Business orientation differentiates it from all other shows. The tasks of the teams are complete related to business and nothing else. For all of the tasks along with business sense one should have knowledge of demand supply principle, pricing, consumer behavior, marketing, advertisement, sales, value proposition to the customer and lot more. The judges for all these tasks are top executives from HUL, Pepsi, P&G, Levis jeans, depending on the nature of the task.
I will give you the glimpse of few tasks that teams undertook:
Design and new bottle of new flavor of Pepsi, Design a new advertisement campaign for Levis, Market and sell new burger from burger king, Develop a piece of real estate, Set up a restaurant and get the best user review
All these tasks need great leadership skills from the team leader, which is chosen for every task by the team. Now lots of time leader has to operate in the background and sometimes he/she has come in the front. Sometimes if someone is not doing a good job you have to decide whether to go for a change as time is crucial in every task. There is lots of back stabbing, maligning, strategy, creativity involved in every task. One should know how to manage “Type A” personalities, which perhaps is as tough as anything could be.
I have had many overwhelming moments while watching this reality show. I am sure that what I have learnt from this show is much more than what I learnt from the management text books for the last one year. Watching this TV show has again made me wonder, if we really need a management degree to be successful in business of it’s the practical experience which matters more.

Business @ “Smoking points”, “Drinking places” & “Golf courses”

One day one of our distinguished Professors said that Business (B2B) is all about managing authenticity and building trust. I liked that statement but was never able to appreciate it. I used to think that business is about making great presentations, excellent communication skills, strategies, jargons, business suits et al. It’s about big conclaves, meets where people meet, know each other and do business with each other.

The moment of truth came few backs weeks when even after working (internship) for a big MNC I realized that ground realities are totally different. Real business is about everything but whatever I have mentioned earlier. It’s all about building trust and managing authenticity.

Now the logic is very simple and goes like this. If I have to buy something from you, which can be anything product or a service, I will have to put my money on you. I will have to rely on you to deliver. In short I will have a strong dependency on you. I you fail I am also bound to fail. So you have to win my trust and confidence in order to convince me to put on money on you.

One thing is for sure that one can’t win the trust only by making great presentations and speaking flawlessly in a posh boardroom. You have make connection with that person. You will have to come across as someone who is real and serious about the whole affair. You have to tell him that even your stakes are quite high in this whole affair.

At middle management level I have observed few platforms where people really connect like anything, though I don’t endorse any of these platforms. First one is “smoking points” outside the offices. This is a place where a sales person and his prospective client will fag together and discuss the things openly in non threating environment. If sales person is able to make connection he will win the deal and probability of making connection increases many folds at places like this. Until few weeks back I never believed in this but now I am convinced about it.

Second is “Drinking places”. These are the places where real business happens. Under a bit of influence of alcohol one is able to trust each other better. Also the mask people wear becomes somewhat transparent which facilitates making connection with the other person. This place is a real ice breaker.

I think these are the two places outside board room where people test each other and decide if they want to do business with each other. Now these are the points where business involving small to medium amount of money happens. There is one more place where big deals happen, the “Golf course”. According to one survey 20% business happens on golf courses. I have no personal experience in this as yet but I will share my perspective. On a golf course big industry honchos come together and discuss things in a relaxing environment. They try to understand each other. They test each other’s game and see the kind of energy and passion other person has. Then they decide if they befit for each other or not.

I would like to conclude by saying that few other things like your culture; integrity; values etc do help in managing authenticity and building trust but they rather are the things which one ought to have if he/she wants to be a successful businessman.