Just as I predicted in an earlier blog entry, Randal is the apprentice.
I don’t think he won by coincidence either. In my mind, he is no doubt the most qualified candidate this year, if not the most qualified ever.
He exhibits many traits that contributed to his victory. First of all, he’s smart, with so many different degrees, he’s actually over-qualified for this job. Secondly, he is a natural leader. He works well with people, lead by example, and trust and respect the people he works with. Thirdly, he is very strong in organizational and communication skills. And finally, he handles emotions well. You all remember that his grandmother passed away at the beginning of the whole process, Randal actually took time-off from the show to attend her funeral service. It would be hard to recover from such tragedy, however, he was able to gather himself and performed the jobs assigned to him extremely well. I honestly don’t know if I could have handled it as well myself if it were to happen to me. People like Randal will do well regardless where they work, and I myself am learning to become such a person.
However, Randal won not just by being himself. People often make the mistake of attributing victories solely to someone’s character. Randal also worked hard, and thus had an outstanding record. I do think he made a mistake of not paying more attention to the weather forecast for the final task. However, we all make mistakes, how to deal with these mistakes is what tells good leaders from others. I think Randal handled the situation well, he made a decision to move it indoors, and committed himself and his team to make the event a success nevertheless.
Now, we come to the other finalist, Rebecca. I didn’t realize she was so young, only 23 years old. She acts in a mature and professional manner, so it’s easy to have thought her of being older. I admire her audacity of persevering through her broken ankle. She’s another example of people distinguising themselves by dealing with and overcoming adversity.
I never imagined that she would go so far. I thought she would be eliminated through the interview process, which didn’t take place this year. She was good at what her does, however, she really just started to shine toward the end, especially when she was teamed up with Randal. So her later success might be the result of her teaming with Randal, but doing regression analysis on the correlation will be impossible because the data is not there. She has a long road ahead of her, and she will be even more successful as she gains more experience.
One thing surprised me was Donald’s decision to fire both Alla and Felicia in one sitting. I thought that was a wrong decision by Donald, giving up Alla, who seems to possess all the right skills and characteristics of someone who works for Donald. However, after her comment on Rebecca on the finale, I wasn’t so sure she’s the right choice for the apprentice. There are people who see the world in binary mode, black or white, good or evil, smart or foolish etc… However, the world is much more complex than what can be described in binary bits. I think what ultimately failed Alla was her simplistic views of people and her abrasiveness, both are counter-productive in a business environment. People are not simple, they have many motivations, diverse background, values, and principles. It’s also difficult to pin the failure of any particular task to a single person (well, unless that person is Marcus, but I digress). It’s also tempting to focus entirely on someone’s negative side, even in the boardroom. I think her hammering of Felicia was perceived negatively in that boardroom, and ultimately resulted in her ousting. She’s also quite abrasive, meaning she lacks the finesse to influence without offending. It’s someone hard to do, and this is what distinguish Randal from her, he can lead without being perceived as forcing things on people.
This season is definitely better than last (third) season, on par with season 1, and maybe not as good as season 2, although I’m biased because I got hooked on season 2. This season there was no colorful characters like Omarosa or Sam. The rewards were not as nice, and the tasks were not as diverse (mostly product promotion).
I heard the Apprentice is coming to LA this year, hopefully it will remain as energetic and entertaining.
Job well done Randal, congratulations.