I was reading an article about
Apprentice and some of
rules that Donald Trump and his apprentice assistants had come up with about business. While reading a lot of them I saw a huge relation to how these same rules also apply to dating as crazy as it might sound. Donald Trump is a famous Billionaire who has endured ups and downs for a number of decades. It appears a large portion of his wealth has been made in Real Estate. Recently he has had a popular reality series NBC has been showing known as
Apprentice. The Reality Show isn't all frivolous as a lot of
other reality shows around.At
center of every episode are real gems on how to climb a corporate ladder, how to lead, how to stand out from
crowd and even how to fail and avoid getting
boot.
The Apprentice centers on a competition for a job working for
Billionaire Donald Trump. Every episode features some sort of business task or some sort of competition. At
end of each episode some of
competitors are fired which means they leave
show and miss out on
opportunity to work for My Trump. This takes place in
Boardroom where members are encouraged to evaluate their teammates performance, abilities, work ethics. The guy who makes
biggest errors tends to be
one "fired". Beyond winning
competition, each individual team member must act in a manner that earns him or her respect as a project manager or team member.
Some of
gems of
show for thought.
1. Think Like A Winner Donald Trump's most profound comment (and first commandment) is, "Winning is everything." He explained that while there is no better feelin...
ability to think like a winner is
key to being one. Those who take their eyes off
prize wind up hearing two little words: you're fired.
This relates to dating as somebody who feels confident can be confident.A person who feels he has already won a battle has a huge edge over somebody who feels he has a lot of obstacles to overcome. A person who feels he is a winner is a winner as your beliefs are what shape you.The person you wish to win over will be heavily more attracted to somebody who believes in themselves than somebody who doesn't.
2. Polish Your Interview Skills The importance of exceptional interview skills became crucial as
field narrowed to
final four contestants in episode 14. Kelly, Jennifer M, Kevin and Stacy underwent a grueling series of job interviews with four of
top business leaders in
world. The two candidates left standing after this process Kelly and Jennifer M demonstrated superior ability to think on their feet. Some of
spontaneous answers lobbed by Kevin and Sandy, made viewers cringe. It quickly became clear who had
?right stuff' to survive
hot seat.
This second rule can be applied to having good communication skills. Somebody who can think of their feet and express their thoughts easily can communicate their feelings much more easily.Somebody who is also good at interviews will know what to say that can open somebody up to a whole new level. They will allow a great sense of rapport to be built quickly and be very deep.
3. Lead Strong or Play Along Getting their team of ?alphas' to follow without question was a challenge for each project manager. Some ruled with an iron fist, others used manipulation and guilt. Some didn't handle it at all. In episode 11, Wes took
lead in a task to create an ad campaign for Levi's Jeans. Maria, one of his teammates, thought she had this task together and angrily told Wes to back off, while she seized control. Maria was so busy throwing her weight around, she missed
primary focus of jeans advertising...
?butt shots'. This single oversight cost
team dearly. Later, in The Boardroom, Wes was fired for failing to control Maria,,, and she was fired for posing as a know-it-all. Two for
price of one turned out to be all in a day's work for Mr. Donald Trump.
On this and dating. One of
things we teach our students in workshops is to lead and never hesitate. When a student sees strong indications of interest it is his responsibility to act on them and follow up. If a student fails to lead than
interest level will soon drop to a very low level quickly. Learning to Play along can also be taken as a way to see
signals and be aware of them.When somebody is showing interest it's best to play along and let them be interested than giving them something else.
4. Step Up; Take Responsibility Finger-pointing was rampant among teams on
Apprentice. If you were really slick about it, laying blame off on one of your teammates could help you survive another day. If you weren't... oh well.
This is a common thing I see with some students when I hear about what they have done before working with Fidentia in a workshop. They fail to take responsibility for their own actions.This is done in so many ways its crazy.First if they have a bad date they blame
date a lot, where they went, what they did, others around yet they never look at themselves and wonder if they could have done anything different to improve
situation.The only way to learn from mistakes is to first realize you made a mistake in
first place.
Another example is guys who use different systems for dating. There are many programs out there. I can make ALL of them work.When a student can not make something work. They tend to first want to blame
system instead of themselves. So they are on a constant search of dating systemsnever realizing that each system has had some students have success.They can not learn if they do not take responsibility for their own actions.
5. Resist
Impulse to Be Impulsive The game provides that
winning project manager receive an exemption from firing should his or her team lose
following week an Apprentice "Get Out of Jail Free" card. Bradford won week one... but lost in week two. He had clearly been
hardest working and most productive on his team and Mr. Trump seemed to especially favor him. Moreover, he had
exemption and could not be fired. All he had to do was sit back and make insightful comments about his teammates. But Bradford let his cockiness get in
way of sound business judgment. He bragged to Mr. Trump that he was so confident of his performance he was willing to give up his exemption. Trump accepted Bradford's offer... and then fired him, for making an unwise and impulsive decision. It was a harsh, but instructive consequence for acting in a rash manner.