This week saw the airing of this year’s The Apprentice. I don’t know why I tune in. I must be some kind of masochist. What I find really painful is the picture this paints of business for our young people, and of British business for those who either work in other sectors or countries. I hate to think they might actually believe this represents our private sector workforce. The programme seems to extol values and behaviours that, if used in the real world, would actually be damaging to your career and your business…
Disrespect…
Apprentice world: Accepting, of course, that this is a competition with one winner – the Board room show down creates a situation where candidates are encouraged to tear strips off one another. Real world: If you were applying for a job in the real world and spent your interview belittling your colleagues, current employer or competitors rather than demonstrating your own strengths you’d be shown the door.
The ends justify the means…
Apprentice world: Because success is measured at one moment in time and only in numbers, the candidates are willing to be underhand, rude, pushy and borderline dishonest to get the deal. Real world: These sorts of hard-sell practices would quickly catch up with you – business is a community in which people talk and your reputation really matters.
Shout the loudest…
Apprentice world: Put your hand up first without thinking it through, drown out your colleagues so your idea gets attention… it’s like watching a bunch of toddlers. Real world: Whilst being responsive and quick-witted is definitely a virtue; listening has to come first. Brutish, bullying, behaviour won’t build a sustainable business because customers have choices and will go to someone who respects them.
Greed…
Apprentice world: All this me-me-me and hard-sell looks like a poor parody of the 80s business world. These candidates all seem to aspire to be Gordon Gekko, with “greed is good” ringing in their ears. Real world: The best, and most sustainable businesses, actually have a generous nature. This is exemplified in the content marketing approach where you give a lot of your material and best ideas away for free, because it builds a platform of trust from which to grow your business. In my book, Watertight Marketing, the phrase I use to sum up the values of businesses that achieve long-term sales results is Commercial Karma. The key difference, of course, between The Apprentice and the real world is that out here we have to live with the legacy we leave. It’s the difference between the short and long term. An economy built on a short term view with Apprentice-like values is exactly what went pop in 2008. What we need from British business, and from the role models we’re given in the media, is a commitment to long-term success. And, for this we all need to treat people decently. It might not make good TV, but it would make a much stronger Britain. And, I don’t doubt Karen, Nick and Lord Sugar know this. © Bryony Thomas.
Bryony Thomas
Author & Founder, Watertight Marketing
Bryony Thomas is the creator of the multi-award winning Watertight Marketing methodology, captured in her best-selling book of the same name. She is one of the UK's foremost marketing thinkers, featured by the likes of Forbes, The Guardian, Business Insider and many more, and in-demand speaker for business conferences, in-house sales days and high-level Board strategy days.
Well said Bryony! Even though (confession time) I do watch it, but precisely because it models what I don’t want to be and, bizarrely, reassures me that I’m not so clueless about business after all! It is sad that they pick characters to get a rise from the viewers rather than people who represent good, honourable, sustainable business. Thanks for your post. (When’s the next episode?)
I wonder if this is also because the people editing and producing aren’t business people… do you think they’re subconsciously channeling a stereotype because they’ve not actually been there? It’s exactly this sort of portrayal that meant my Dad couldn’t understand or respect the path I’d chosen in life.
I think you’ve probably got that spot on about the producers, having been in that world myself. Sad, but really grateful for opportunity to rewrite the stereotype – with help from people like you!
Great article. I’ve decided to not watch the apprentice this year, as I have got tired of the format and selective editing.
Hear Hear, well said Bryony!
Great article. For the duration of the apprentice and for about 2 months after I get people constantly coming in the shop asking for discount. “Ive seen it on the apprentice I know you can come down in price” I still dont understand why people who have their own businesses go on the programme, surely the time would be better spent working on your own one!
Do they also belittle you and shout you down to see if that makes you more willing to help them? 😉
Allowing for vicious editing, I do also wonder how on earth the candidates think they’ll ever be taken seriously again. How do they not realise how damaging this exposure could be for their future? Or, is any publicity really good publicity?
Oh Bryony I can’t bear 10 seconds of it! It has always represented everything I loathe about what people ‘think’ business is about. Tough enough to plough your own furrow when you’re a creative, heart centered individual who believes in honest storytelling, open communication, genuine connection and authentic interaction – without having to negotiate with cliche spewing plonkers. Believe me these bozos exist – I’ve met them. I lasted 3 months for a head-hunters in the financial sector. Great piece.
Yep, I did my year in recruitment. I recognise these traits. But, I am pleased to say that the vast majority of successful people in business that I actually know, like and respect operate respectfully. I worry that, like X Factor, young people will look to this as they way to get on in business.
Well done Bryony, I’ve been saying for years that the way to get people to work well together is to encourage them with the carrot not wack them with the stick. I see so many people who when I ask them “if a miracle happened what would be the first sign of things getting better?” and the answer often is “I’d be in a better job where I am respected”.
That’s a sad indictment Penny. I do genuinely believe that it makes good business sense to treat people decently – whether that’s colleagues, employees, suppliers, customers.
Hi Bryony, gosh, where to start with the Apprentice !
I worked in TV for a number of years and what viewers are often unaware of is that these shows are cast, just like any drama would be. Nice, effective, talented people do not make good TV, incompetence, arrogance and conflict do.
Sadly, many of the characteristics you mention would make people suitable to work with Alan Sugar. He’s a dinosaur. The idea that he advises the Government on entrepreneurship suggests its not only the Education department that has a rose-tinted view of the 1960s.
More seriously for people like us, the programme gives about as misleading vision of what people need to succeed in business as Midsommer Murders does of the average Oxfordshire village. TV people do not generally understand business but, worse, they view it negatively and are only too happy to pretend that the Apprentice is reflective of the business world. Dragon’s Den is bad, but at least its presented by Evan Davis and the words ‘business plan’ are occasionally mentioned !
Completely take the point about programmes being made by people with no real understanding, I made the same point in my reply to Lizzie above. But, I do fear that my friends in other industries, like teachers, nurses, etc. think this represents the private sector.
Unfortunatly I do think that some businesses do run along the apprentce format. Anything as long as you make a profit, This is one of the reasons, we had the banking crisis , short termisum and profit over morals and money being the main motivation for doing your job.
There are so many things wrong with how many big businesses are run. Small businesses have to have people they can rely on, people who can think ontheir feet , they cannot carry tons of these idiots, Unfortunatly big businesses seem to go out of their way to employ them
I believe that there are plenty of businesses out their who would welcome these pretencious, ineffectual morons into their ranks,
Loyalty to your employer is now something that goes against you when actually wanting to move.
The people who seem to get on are the people who move jobs every 8 months leaving their disasters behind and getting a pay rise in the process, Climbing the ladder on the way.
They are called go getters because they show no loyalty to their employer, But half of these go getters are just “Get out of here before the shit hits the fanners”
Thanks Tracey. Really interesting distinction between big and small businesses. I’ve worked in and for both. These days I stick almost exclusively to the latter, where accountability and decision-making is so much clearer. I do also recognise the seven-monther… I like to see stints of at least 2-3 years on CVs, anything less and I worry about their ability to truly see things through.
Excellent Bryony. Thanks for saying what many of us are thinking. The price of reality telly. Shame on Sugar for selling out British business and talent.
Like you, I do not subscribe to the Apprentice approach to business. Those who play nicely in the sandbox win friends and get results! Great article Bryony – love it.
I’m completely in agreement with the way sustainable businesses work. I come across all sorts and it is easy to see which ones are likely to make it. they’re rarely the apprentice types.
However I also come across “nice guys” who are so keen to avoid these dreadful stereotypes that they end up doing the opposite. I have to reassure them that they can be strong and successful without trampling on others along the way.
Hi Della, thanks for this. Yes, there are definitely people who may go too far the other way. I think it’s possible to be firm and fair in business without leaving behind your human decency.