The Apprentice and its "host," Donald Trump,
have been surprise hits of the current TV season. Here at
Entrepreneur, part of each Friday morning is spent e-mailing
and discussing the previous evening's episode. Several business
professors have actually required their students to watch the
program. Some newspaper columnists discuss the wisdom of The
Donald. Everyone wonders about his hair.
Not everyone, though, thinks Trump is an ideal role model.
Several business reporters are quick to point out that not all of
Trump's businesses are successful. Others complain that what we
saw on the screen didn't accurately reflect what actually
happened in real life. (To those people, I say, Get over it,
it's TV!)
As addicted as I am to watching the show, I, too, have a gripe
with Trump. For the uninitiated, near the end of each show (which
should have a winner by the time you read this), the project leader
of the losing team goes into the boardroom to face Trump and two of
his associates. The project leader must bring two of his or her
teammates into the lion's den, knowing one of the three will
get fired. During these boardroom interrogations, Trump asks the
project leader what went wrong, who's at fault and who should
get fired. Obviously, no one volunteers for the hook. But it is
here that bad business practices are broadcast across America. For
isn't the definition of a leader someone who takes
responsibility for what happens on his or her watch? As an
entrepreneur, don't you want your department heads, supervisors
and other employees to own up to the failures of their tasks? How
would you react if, when questioning an employee about something
that had gone wrong, they said "It wasn't my fault; it was
his (or hers)?"
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I know Entrepreneur's owner, Peter Shea, expects more
than that from his management team. And I much prefer to hear
"We screwed up, and I take full responsibility" from my
staff. That's not to say I don't want to hear the truth or
the full story, but I don't like buck-passing, and neither
should you.
As real-life entrepreneurs operating on tight budgets, you know
how valuable every member of your team is. And you know the worth
of teamwork. I recently read an article that says Trump believes
paranoia is one of the keys to success. Be that as it may, I
don't believe that breeding paranoia is the sign of a leader or
a good boss.
At some point, this "jobless recovery" is going to
start creating actual jobs. And then your employees might be in
play. We all know it's harder for entrepreneurs to attract and
keep good employees when bigger businesses beckon with fatter
benefits and salaries. So it behooves you to create an atmosphere
where people want to work. Where your staff looks forward to
getting out of bed in the morning. Where employees don't have
to look over their shoulders to see if someone is gunning for them.
Yes, you need to discipline (and maybe even fire) employees who
mess up, but you also need to craft a business where people join
hands instead of point fingers.