Wednesday nights are now being cleared in my calendar (or at least the time to catch up on iplayer) with the new series of the Apprentice. It’s one of the few programmes I watch on TV. I love watching and analysing how people relate to and treat each other, how they work in teams. It never ceases to amaze me how despite the fact that the aim of each programme is to win the task, so many are so self-obsessed that they would rather spend time and energy bickering, proving they are the best, bad mouthing colleagues or deliberately not trying to get others fired. I know after watching their performances I wouldn’t want to employ many of them. They claim to be leaders, to be skilled managers, yet they fail to be able to do some of the simplest tasks working in teams because their egos get in the way. Integrity is certainly not a word you often associate with many of the candidates. Servant leadership is also alien (despite not just being a biblical concept but also accepted in the leadership world). I really don’t like Philip – yes he may be a ‘grafter’ but did he say one positive thing in last night’s programme? Constantly sniping and trying to undermine his team leader. Last night in homegroup we were thinking about Philippians 3 and how Paul’s definition of maturity is someone who knows they haven’t yet arrived, who knows there is more to learn. For us that was a liberating discovery, when we realise maturity isn’t about thinking we are sorted or when we know it all, we can stop pretending, we can stop being defensive and can be free to be the people God created us to be. That sort of person to me is so much more attractive than the arrogance and over-confidence we see displayed on the Apprentice. I’m not a fan of Debra either – the ice queen, who again seems too quick to pull others down. I wonder how employable going for broke to win the Apprentice really makes you? All that aggression may be good in the short term, but longer term an ability to relate and treat colleagues well does tend to be helpful…
the soapbox 