Just one month ago, I (still) believed the newly endowed W. P. Carey School of Business would give me an education to prepare me to succeed in the corporate world. Instead, my views have been profoundly altered since the January premiere of NBC's hit reality series, "The Apprentice," as I now realize how to truly succeed in the business world. Let's recap all the lessons we can learn from this show:
Lesson #1: Women are clearly superior. In the first four weeks of the show, the female team resoundingly defeated the male team in every single challenge. Even with all the drama the show's producers tried to create last week with the underdog male team resorting to tricking gullible tourists by selling them "celebrity" autographs, the final verdict in the boardroom was once again a victory for the females.
Lesson #2: Sex sells. Ladies, all you have to do is shake your "bon-bon" and otherwise strut your sex appeal, and the corporate world is in your hands. In the first week of the show, the female team was able to sell quadruple the amount of lemonade on the streets of New York as the men did by shamelessly flirting, promising not just a cool drink, but "lemonade and a kiss." The women continued to dominate in succeeding weeks by being as sexually suggestive as prime-time television would allow (well... we'll pass on the CBS joke).
By week four, Mr. Trump himself even felt the need to intervene by taking the women aside for a brief reprimand. Whether it was genuine is another question. (Sex appeal also creates high TV ratings.)
But brief reprimands aside, it is quite obvious all of this makes for quality entertainment. But "the ultimate job hunt" doesn't paint a very flattering portrait of men or women in the business world.
In fact, reality could be nothing further from the truth. This does not mean that extreme cases of sexual manipulation don't occur in the corporate world, but Donald Trump, whether intentionally or not, appears to make the exception the rule.
In today's work environment, women should not simply rely on their sex appeal to move forward. In their third annual report released in December, titled "The Glass Ceiling Persists," researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have found that women among companies in the Fortune 500 only make up 15% of top executive positions and just 12% of board members. Clearly, corporate women still have many advances to make, and they will not survive using the skills celebrated on reality television. In the long run, women restrict themselves by using sexuality: objectifying yourself or sexualizing yourself creates only a docile image, not a person.
In retrospect, the world of "The Apprentice" is really nothing but a pre-packaged media extravaganza to glorify the lavish lifestyle of the true star and beneficiary of the show: Donald Trump.
And what about The Donald? I guess with massive success comes a massive ego, because Trump manages to refer to his own magnificence at least a few times each week. So far, we've already seen "the best apartment in New York, mine" and "the best golf course in New York, mine." Trump knows something and wants to tell us; he is a certified genius. Either that, or he's a Jedi Master.
Ishtiaque Masud was fired on last night's "The Apprentice." Reach him at Ishtiaque.Masud@asu.edu.
