April 14, 2004 - Who Will be Hired?

Yes, I'm sure that he's not the first president who had to pull a question out of his posterior, but he's certainly the first one to make it so obvious.

I'll take the opportunity to talk about a few other shows I've been following.

The live finale of The Apprentice is Thursday, and it's going to be between Bill Rancic and Kwame Jackson. I don't know if I would have predicated it would come down to them, but both had very similar strategies in the beginning of the game, which was to sit back and let other people make the big mistakes and get cut.

Then, about midway through the series, Bill and Kwame began coming forward and running projects.

Now, Trump could easily go with either one of them. It all comes down to which leadership talents are more important to him. Kwame, who has a MBA from Harvard Business School likes to lead by consensus. The value of this kind of leadership is that it's easy to get results from people who like and respect you.

However, when a crisis situation comes up, Kwame's usual reaction is to shrug it off and ignore it. Time and again he's led projects where the initial plan sounded good, but when it clearly wasn't going off the way it should have, instead of making some alterations and fixing it, he just let it go.

In nowhere was this more evident than in his final task, shown last week. The two final contestants were put in charge of running a major event, with the help of their former competitors, brought back to assist them.

Kwame was supposed to run a Jessica Simpson concert in Atlantic City, and he put the hated Omarosa in charge of probably the most important task, which was logistics. It was her job to coordinate transportation for the singer, to make sure she was picked up at the airport.

So naturally, when Omarosa hears there's a problem, instead of interrupting her dinner to fix it, she just ignores the problem and doesn't tell anybody else what happened. Then the next day, when Kwame finds out there's a disaster going on, and they can't find Jessica Simpson, he asks Omarosa and Troy if they can handle it and then just leaves them alone with it, doesn't provide any hands-on leadership. I think that's ultimately going to cost him.

Bill, on the other hand, doesn't have as much education on his resume: he's got a bachelor's degree from Loyola University. I would argue that his leadership style is stronger in some areas. He's more capable of thinking on his feet, and that's important. Where he's weaker, however, is in the social aspects of it, building a rapport with his teammates or employees. He should remember that people have feelings instead of just barking orders.

Kwame's education aside, the stronger candidate is probably Bill. But of course, it all comes down to how the final tasks turned out and, again, to Trump's priorities for an employee.

A lot has been made of the fact that some of the women on the show, not including Omarosa, incidentally, agreed to pose in their skivvies for FHM magazine. I agree, that's tasteless, but it depends on where they really want their careers to go.

Apparently, their newfound fame has gone to their heads and they've decided the business world is not really what they're looking for.

The other show that recently caught my attention is The Swan on Fox. In this show, each week two women who are unhappy with their physical appearance are given an extreme makeover: plastic surgery, dentistry, liposuction and an intense diet and exercise program. After three months (but through the magic of television, a half hour for viewers), their new look is revealed and one is chosen to compete in a special beauty pageant for a lot of prizes.

This show fascinates me, as plastic surgery has for a long time. It promises perfection; it promises the ability to fix physical flaws. And yet, few people really need that to achieve their goals, which is really a change in their self-perception.

The physical transformation can certainly help, but I don't think it should be the end. Of course, the show does stress that they give people counseling to help them work on self-esteem issues, as well.

While there's something exploitative about this show, a sort of sideshow fascination, these woman are so happy with the results that it can be quite moving.

So far, the one woman who actually needed surgical help was this week's pageant contestant, whose stomach skin, after giving birth, had lost its elasticity. She had folds of skin hanging loose on her stomach. What's more, her dream was to be a belly dancer

There are a few other people whose concerns go beyond appearance. For example, a woman on the first episode had such bad teeth that it produced difficulty eating.

I never sought a surgical transformation, despite my admittedly small chin and perhaps disproportionate nose. But it's my face, and I quite like it. Besides, what if you don't like the results?

My transformation has been primarily through two methods: diet and exercise, and counseling. The counseling ended more than a year ago, but that made a lasting impact on my life that forever boosted my self-esteem.

I remember talking to my counselor. We were talking about my weight loss goals, and I told her what size I wanted to reach. She said, "Well, that's possible. Now, if you reach that size, is that going to solve everything?"

I said, "No, probably not. Because I remember the last time I was that size, I wasn't happy with myself then either."

And she smiled and said, "Well, what do we need to work on?"

My inner transformation has involved: a lying to myself reduction, a reality check, a self-esteem boost, reshaping of the internal self-beliefs and implantation of goal-setting and troubleshooting capabilities.

I think this, as much or more as the 45 pounds I've lost, have transformed me from that internalized Ugly Duckling into a Swan.

One program actually helps contestants to work on such internal reshaping. It's called Starting Over, and I only watch it on occasion, in accident bursts when I'm, say, rewinding one of my exercise tapes. It's a daytime NBC program where women go to the Starting Over house to live for a period of time and work on something in their lives.

They set goals, work on tasks. Their goals may be anything from becoming a singer-songwriter to coming to terms with their past.

While it's a fascinating show, I rarely have time in the afternoon to just sit and watch it. A show like Starting Over is a worthwhile endeavor but unlikely to make it onto TV unless they rename it, say, the Plastic Surgery House.

 

Moral:
Admit it, you like saying "You're fired."