After 12 weeks of varied tasks Tom emerged as the person who was going to be Lord Sugar’s business partner.

As is always the case there were many learning points that arose.

1. If you are going into business with an investment there has to be a return for the investor.  Jim’s idea of a not for profit venture was way off the mark and resulted in him being first to be eliminated.
2. You have to balance aiming high with a degree of realism.  Susan was aiming to make a profit of around £1m in year 1.  While on one hand you might applaud her self belief, it demonstrated a huge gap in commercial awareness.  Of course aim high but don’t set yourself up to fail.
3. You have to think about scalability.  Investing £250,000 even for a multi millionaire is not something they are going to do without seeing the longer term potential.  Helen seemed to miss that point with her proposition.
4. You have to demonstrate potential.  One thing that Tom demonstrated that the others did not was a ton of potential.  After all he had already shown that he could create something, get in front of key decision makers and get a product into major retailers.
5. There is a big difference between being a leader and an entrepreneur.  It was clear that had Lord Sugar been giving someone a job that Helen would have been the runaway winner.  She was a good leader, organised, focused and able to mobilise others to achieve a result.  Sadly however her business idea failed to live up to expectations.
6. Running a business requires competence in a number of areas.  Jim is clearly a great salesman but maybe did not have the broader commercial expertise.  Helen was clearly talented but like Jim seemed to lack that bit of flair at the end of the day.

Without doubt it is easy to sit and see what is working and what is not working from a distance.  Being part and parcel of the process is a bit different.  Personally I was delighted to see Tom emerge as the winner.  For me he had a really unique combination of skills and qualities.  He clearly is very creative and at the same time pays attention to the detail.  We saw this time and time again during the process.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective leaders and managers.  He invites you to sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success.

With just five battling it out for a place in the final it was always going to be tough.

The task itself was pretty tough too.  Set up a brand new fast food restaurant.  With a bigger team this would have been hard but with teams of 2 and 3 it was even tougher.

In the end Tom and Helen romped to victory.   So let’s look at the key learning points.

1. You have to take care of the basics.  Jim’s team of three had overlooked one of the most basic things of business, working out costs and margins.  You cannot just guess.
2. When you get team members who are unwilling to work together you have big issues.  Susan and Natasha had their differences in the past and unfortunately allowed these past events get in the way of results on this task.
3. You have to trust others.  Helen clearly had her doubts about Tom taking responsibility for branding and concept but she trusted him.  This turned out to be a really smart call as Tom’s creative thinking resulted in a really great brand.
4. Process might not be the most exciting part of any work but it is vital nonetheless.  By definition people want food in a fast food place quickly.  Despite this Jim’s team were lacking in any process to get the food prepared and out quickly.
5. We all make choices to step up to the plate or not.  Natasha clearly had some past expertise that she could have brought to this task but chose not to.  It is easy to forget that the results we get are a direct consequence of the choices we make.

Personally I was delighted to see both Tom and Helen in the final through winning the task.  Both have been consistent throughout.  Helen recorded a record number of wins and Tom’s attention to detail and creativity were lost on many people earlier in the process.   With Jim and Susan also through it should be an interesting finale when their individual business plans are put under scrutiny.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective leaders and managers.  He invites you to sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success

The teams were tasked with buying stock, selling it, noticing what was selling, re-investing in what was proving popular and making as much as they could.

Melody was team leader on one team and Natasha on the other team.

Natasha’s team triumphed but it was a very close.

As always there were lessons to be learned.

Listen To Instructions

Lord Sugar made it crystal clear that he was looking for the teams to re-invest and despite this both teams seemed reluctant to do this.  When you are given a clear instruction you need to pay attention.

You Need To Be Willing To Take A Risk

The winning team were actually fined £100 in the boardroom for lacking courage and not being willing to take any risk.  In business and in leadership roles you need to get comfortable with balanced risk taking.

Think Before You Act

Melody and Helen were trying to sell to retailers (even one which was a pound shop) even though it was blatantly obvious that they needed to be selling to individuals.

Choose Wisely

Susan decided to go to an upmarket part of London to sell low cost bedding door to door.  Decisions that you make can either make or break in terms of results so choose wisely.

The Bottom Line: In business and in leadership roles you need to be willing to listen, make smart choices and get comfortable with risk.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective leaders and managers.  Sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success here

Zoe took the project manager on one team and Helen on the other.  Both had relevant experience so that seemed like a wise choice.

It was a tough task with the teams working to short timescales.

In the end Helen once again led her team to victory due to a massive order  and Zoe was fired.

Both teams in my view gave a credible performance but ultimately with hindsight made some basic mistakes.

Firstly Zoe knew the business and should have got involved in the production.  Intuitively she knew this but allowed the others to sway her view.  Sometimes you need to trust your intuition.

Secondly you need to play it safe when pitching to buyers.  I get what Zoe’s team were trying to do with the little role play.  However they were pitching a product not pitching an advert.

Make sure that there is clear communication and understanding among everyone in the team.   The boardroom when you are reviewing what went wrong is not when you should be finding out that there was a different level of understanding about the product quality between production and marketing.

Don’t take feedback negatively.  There was a resounding message from the focus group that Melody’s idea of the biscuit being the new popcorn did not hit the mark.  Rather than getting upset by this take it on the chin in the way Tom did when his emergency biscuit went down like a lead balloon.

Be clear about who your market is.  The winning team had absolute clarity on who their target market was while Zoe’s team never decided on this.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps highly effective professionals become highly effective leaders and managers.  To sign up for his free audio e-course click here

Tom and Susan were the Project Managers this week and Susan led her team to a resounding victory.

Once again we had plenty of nuggetts of learning.

Taking All The Glory Is Fine Short Term

Melody obviously had language skills which was a huge bonus and the team let her use these skills which was clearly a great idea.  Trouble is because she made the appointments she wanted to bag all of the sales.  Lord Sugar liked her desire to win and hunger.  the downside is that while that might work short term, there must be a big question around this as a long term strategy.

You Sometimes Have To Assert Yourself

Tom is obviously a smart guy and we saw him assert himself under pressure in the boardroom.   Sadly on the tasks he does not always assert hmself enough and get his point accepted.  The reality is that sometimes you need to assert yourself.

Product Choice Counts

The team that won by a mile selected the best product for the big supplier.  The other team rejected it on what might be described as flimsy market research.  Responding to what the market wants is obviously key.

You Cannot Be A Bystander

Leon who was fired appeared on this task and in some others as well to take on a rather passive role.  If you are seeking serious investment being a bystander is not an option.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to realise their real potential.  You can find out more here

With the decline in the print market and more and more free publications, the challenge was to come up with something that was going to be of interest to those spending on advertising.

This week a very positive development was that both teams took the time to determine the niche or target audience they were going to serve.

They also went out and did some market research through some focus groups.

On the flip side as we have seen so often the views of the focus groups seemed to be completely ignored.  Now obviously it is just a perspective from a selection of people but valuable time and effort was spent to collect views that just seemed to be ignored.

As always we saw some good and bad points from both team leaders and team members.

Positives

Jim was accused of never taking a decision on his own.  Now that might be the case but on the other hand that could be seen as good team working.

People were offering their opinions and views and saying when they really were uncomfortable with things.

Decisions were taken by the team leaders.

Learning Points

Aggressive or hostile behaviour undermines some of the good behaviours adopted on the task.  Jim’s analysis of people in the boardroom being a classic example.

People will stop giving their opinions if you simply say I have decided without explaining your rationale.

Don’t ask for opinions if you are not at all interested in hearing them or acting on them.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people realise their true potential.  You can sign up for his free audio course here

So what can we learn about business and leading from this episode?

Sometimes You Have To Take Risk

One of the teams gambled on the two appointments set up by Lord Sugar and offered to clear for free.  It was a big gamble and just paid off.  Nevertheless it showed the willingness to take risk, an essential ingredient in business and leadership.

Make Sure Everyone Has Clarity On Tasks

One of the team members on Zoe’s team Susan seemed to be lacking clarity on the commercial appointments.  Perhaps this was a communication breakdown.  As a leader you need to make sure everyone has clarity.

Admit Mistakes

We all make them from time to time and Zoe showed she was willing to admit her mistakes.  The reality is that if we are never making mistakes we are probably playing it safe.  The issue is not making mistakes, it is learning from them when we do and deciding what we would do differently.

Team Working Is Tough

We saw this in the boardroom where people on the losing team were arguing over who was the person who closed deals.  The natural tendency of most people is to focus on themselves.  The challenge is to get people seeing the benefits of team working as being more important than being the lone ranger.

Determination and Focus Produces Results

Zoe’s team looked dead in the water at the end of day one.  Yet they stepped into the second day determined and almost pulled it off.  Sometimes real determination and focus can make a huge difference to the results and success.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps accountants and health professionals to become highly effective leaders and managers.  To get access to his free audio e-course Leadership Success click here

You Cannot Prepare Enough For A Presentation

One of the team members Leon complained about having to spend 5 hours working on a presentation lasting 20 minutes.  Whether he did or did not spend all of this time we will never know but the presentation he delivered to a group of industry experts was diabolical.  The truth is he was delivering a presentation to an audience he did not know on a topic where he was no expert and as a result the success or otherwise was always going to come down to preparation.

Don’t Ask For Views If You Are Not Interested In Listening

Both of the Project Managers asked for input and feedback from the team. They then totally dismissed what they had to say without explaining their rationale.  All this does is de-motivate and disengage people.

Hold People To Account

It was obvious that Jim should have been brought back into the boardroom as he pushed the Every Dog concept for the pet food.  Vincent decided for whatever reason not to hold him to account which had serious consequences for him in the end.

Split Up Tasks But Maintain Team Working

It is always going to be necessary to split up the big team into smaller teams to get everything done.  At the same time it is important not to create divisions between the teams.  Everyone needs to be focused on the common purpose and be allowed to contribute to success.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective leaders and managers.  He invites you to sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success.

Unlike last week there was a clear winner. And as always there were lessons to be learned too.

Be Passionate About A Product You Want To Sell

Both teams wanted to offer the spray tan treatment. The one who got the chance to do it was more enthusiastic about the product so got the opportunity.

Track Progress

It was obvious that sales of the treatments were not happening on the losing team. In truth the Project Manager seemed to be more interested in selling than managing so no one was doing the tracking.

Don’t Promise If You Can’t Deliver

One of the team members on the winning team was in the beauty industry and was making all sorts of claims about volumes she could sell. Unfortunately results did not match up to promises.

Don’t Ignore The Data You Collected

One of the team members had done a great job at working out margins on everything. When it came to selling this key data seemed to get lost.

Have A Plan Of Action

Especially if you have a limited time to get a result.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective leaders and managers.  You can sign up for his free audio e-course Leadership Success here

The teams were tasked with buying 10 items for a top London hotel.  The team who got the items at the lowest price won.  As always there were a ton of learning points.  Here are mine and feel free to add your own.

If You Are Leading You Need To Take The Lead

The guy on the losing team who was the Project Manager who was fired did not take the lead.  I could see that he had some difficult personalities to deal with but the team drifted for too long in my view.

Don’t Expect A Discount

I could not believe how green some of the team members were.  You are not going to walk into one of the most expensive streets in London and get a discount just because you have a cameraman and film crew with you.  You need to make a case.

Personality Matters

I think the reason the winning team were successful was because the Irish guy Jim was able to go into buying situations, establish rapport and build relationships.

Teams Need To Work Together

On one team (the losing team) individuals ruled.  There was no sense of togetherness.  Teams need to work together towards a common goal.

Have A Plan and Strategy

When you have a lot to achieve in a little time you need a plan of action or strategy, otherwise you just drift.

Duncan Brodie of Goals and Achievements helps professional people to become highly effective managers and leaders and realise their professional potential.  Click here to find out more