Posts Tagged ‘BBC TV’

Week 8 of The Apprentice UK and the teams were sent off to Paris to sell British goods to the French.

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

Last night was week 5 of The Apprentice UK 2011.  The teams were set the task of developing and marketing a new pet food.  As always there were business and leadership lessons to be learned.  Here are my favourites from this week.

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.

Last night on Dragons’ Den we saw a range of quite diverse pitches from businesses seeking investment.  So what were the key business lessons from week 2 of the 2009 series?

Lesson 1: Make sure you provide all the vital information

The revelation of the market size by the company that was seeking investment for their corporate team building using drumming changed perceptions.  Especially when they revealed that franchises were being sold for £100k.

Lesson 2: You need to be able to articulate your business and financial model

Too often businesses were pitching ideas where they could not articulate the reasons for the pricing structure or how they were going to make it profitable.

Lesson 3: Understand that a gamble and a calculated risk are different

The professional poker player was a good example.  The Dragons’ made it clear that they are happy to take calculated risks where they have some control but not a complete gamble.

Lesson 4: Show that there is demand

The woman that had created the product that would simplify passing a cable through a cavity wall did this brilliantly.  She already had significant demand from BT and saw the opportunity to take it worldwide.

You can watch Dragon’s Den every Wednesday at 9pm on BBC Two or on the BBCiplayer. 

In the Den businesses are seeking investment in their product or service.  So what were the key presentation lessons from the first week of the 2009 series?

1. Make sure that you demonstrate your track record when presenting
2. Don’t take big risks when making a pitch.  Focus on presenting professionally and in a business like way
3. Be willing to respond openly and transparently to questions
4. Focus on building rapport and avoid conflict
5. Be clear about the difference between a concept and a business