Continuing Part I, here are some more hard lessons taught to us by The Donald and his mini-me assistants. Of course, these business lessons are best taught to us indirectly through television rather than through hard and financially devastating experience!
1.Some Advertising Campaigns Are Just Stupid
Some of the more bizarre advertising campaigns these creative geniuses came up with include a police-state army recruiting commercial, a cruise ship vacation turned horrifying crash, and a cucumber porn advertisement for soap, all of which Trump hated. Oddly enough, some of these marketing gurus forgot the most important rule in advertising and focused too much on a creative idea than in selling the actual product.
2.No One Is Expendable, Everyone Can Be Fired
How many unbeatable employees learned this hard lesson from Donald Trump? And we??™re not talking about poor immune Bradford??™s surprise firing, either. How about Carolyn Kepcher, Trump??™s ice-cold assistant who was seemingly the all-powerful female know-it-all for five seasons? After neglecting her duties to Trump after going on a book tour, she was unceremoniously fired and replaced by Ivanka Trump, the boss??™s daughter. Now that hurts!
3.Don??™t Badmouth Your Co-Workers
No, we??™re not talking about Omarosa, Sam, Kelly or Randall??”we??™re talking about The Donald himself who insisted on publicly lambasting Martha Stewart after her Apprentice spin off was, in the boss??™s own words, a ???disaster.??? Everything Trump taught about professionalism and teamwork was blown away after Martha Stewart embarrassed him and watered down his ratings. Lesson learned: don??™t disparage those who can affect your lousy ratings.
4.Money, Money, Money
The biggest lessons the Apprentice taught was in dollars and cents, at least to NBC executives who got to produce a ratings hit for a dirt cheap price and capitalize on numerous product endorsements, cross-promotional activities and image makeovers of many washed up celebrities. What the business gurus say is true: networking pays off!
5.You??™re Not Done Till The Boss Fires You
Donald Trump thought he was done with The Apprentice when NBC took it off their fall line up in 2007. However, the network announced shortly after the show might return for the next season??”even though Donald had already quit. The lesson learned? It??™s not over till the company decides it will no longer sell. Looks like Donald exited the boardroom prematurely.