Corporate Reshuffles Should Maximize
Opportunities
Before assigning the fifth week’s challenge of season one, Donald Trump
brought the teams into the boardroom. The
men’s team, Versacorp, was down to four candidates.
Protégé still had all eight women that started.
After introducing another trusted employee, Bernie Diamond, who would
fill in for George on this task, Trump told the teams, “In business, and in
real life, when things aren’t working well, you reshuffle, you mix them up.”
Nick and Kristi were the Project Managers, and Trump had them choose new
teams. Nick chose first, followed by
Kristi. The new Versacorp team
consisted of: Nick, Amy, Bill, Katrina, Ereka and Tammy.
The new Protégé team was: Kristi,
The importance of a corporate reshuffle is in improving the corporate structure so that greater profits and productivity ensue the reorganization. In episode five of the first season, the Project Managers, Nick and Kristi, had the opportunity to select teammates that would generate the greatest intellectual capital and resources for Versacorp and Protégé respectfully. After this selection, the teams proceeded with the week’s challenge.
For Versacorp, the corporate reshuffle brought new life to the team. For Protégé, the first loss was recorded. Nick, as Project Manager of Versacorp, selected the best team for the challenge and led them to Victory. This is exactly what a reshuffle should do. You cannot continue to do the same things over and over when things are not working. You must change something if you expect to change the results. Kristi, unfortunately, failed to choose the best candidates and led the team in Protégé’s first loss. She had the opportunity to choose different candidates, and this lack of judgment was obviously a consideration in her overall performance as Project Manager.
More important than who she chose is the lesson everyone can take away from this. When things are not working, change. When you change, maximize the opportunity by ensuring the change is the best it can be.
It was the seventh episode of season two when Donald Trump called both teams back to the boardroom. He told the two teams to pick their project managers. Wes and Jennifer were selected. He then told each of them that it was time for a corporate restructure to see how the men and women could work together. He then instructed each project manager to select three team members that they did not want on their team. When the teams were decided, Trump told them, “Some of you may be happy with your new team, while some of you may be annoyed that you were traded away. But that’s life, and that’s business. So deal with it. Now is the time to really prove yourselves.” The lesson here is pretty obvious, so when things get shuffled around and mixed up in business and life, deal with it and drive on.
At the beginning of episode eight of the third season, Trump called both teams to an early morning meeting in the boardroom. There were five people left on each team. The college grad book smart team and the wealthy high school grad street smart team had both lost the same amount of tasks. Trump told the group, “It shows that anybody can be successful in business. It’s not whether or not you have book smarts or street smarts, you just need to be smart.” He then announced it was time for a corporate restructure.
Following season two’s model, he told each Project Manager to send two team members to the other team. Kendra, Magna’s Project Manager, sent Stephanie and Erin to the other side. Chris had to do the same with Net Worth and he sent Tana and Craig over to Magna. Again, the key to change is to maximize the opportunity by ensuring the change is the best it can be. Kendra felt confident that she had the best team, and her instincts proved to be absolutely correct. Magna consisted of Kendra, Tana, Craig, Alex, and Bren. As the weeks went past, Net Worth continued to lose tasks and members of Magna were selected to move over. By episode thirteen, there were five remaining candidates. Kendra, Tana and Craig remained on Magna, while Net Worth consisted of Alex and Bren. Kendra’s five on episode eight were the last five remaining. In episode eight, Kendra definitely maximized her team’s opportunity during the corporate reshuffle.
Trump
Time Out – Instinct
“I’ve always felt my best deals were made with my instinct, not anything else, with my instinct.” – Donald Trump from The Apprentice, season three, episode five.