Episode 7 - Empire Strikes Back!

Siralan says it every week: “pressure – that’s what business is all about” and it seems that Phillip cracked under it – losing his focus, his sense of urgency, and generally STILL (true to form) getting into a pickle over Lorraine and a tingle over golden girl Kate.

In the grubby café, Lorraine is aware that pressure is the key “it’s what we signed up for – a bit of pressure”…but Phillip had long since opted out – his suggestion when he couldn’t focus enough to make any more appointments “let’s go to the pub”. We all love the pub – but that’s when the work’s done, surely! Did Phillip derail due to his obsession with Kate? Was it lack of ‘privateness’ – the tendency to keep personal information to himself (or not, in the case of him and Kate)? Kate certainly knew the importance of ‘privateness’ and clearly stated it in the Boardroom – “I wouldn’t let my personal life interfere with business”. Privateness has certainly been found to be, amongst other things, a clear leadership derailer – perhaps Phillip would care to read our article on it now.

Anyway, the predictions of fellow housemates proved accurate. Kate did not let her attachment to the rambunctious Philip of The Pants stand in the way of the competition, unceremoniously dumping him right in the fire of Siralan’s wrath in the boardroom. A quick farewell peck on the cheek was all he got for his attempts to woo her with his Cat-House antics and she was dust….I don’t think we’ll be seeing a ‘Hello!’ wedding there then…clearly a girl capable of logic and detachment, key skills in business decision-making.

It all comes back to trust – so basic, but so often forgotten. Why is this so tough!? Mona takes the PM job on simply because she “can’t trust anyone to do a better job than me” – ohhh. Where’s the trust Mona? Let’s hope that’s just the context of the competition and not her usual business behaviour.

Instinct: sometimes it works in business…but surely it’s about knowing when to use it and not – Lorraine – just repeating over and over that that is the way you do things so it must be right. Instinct about products can sometimes work but if the customer quickly realised “it’s a cardboard box in the end” – why didn’t the team?! And being disparaging about your customers must be a business no-no: did I really hear someone say about the ‘northern’ pet shop “wages are a little bit lower up here” – just where did they think they were?!

Why is it that some people are just so hard to like, and by association, work with? There’s nothing really WRONG with poor Lorraine, a grafter if ever there was one, and doubtless a marvellous mother and partner to someone, although she derides herself as being ‘a slow burner’ on the intellectual front. She describes herself as ‘very instinctive’. She talks about her ‘business instincts. She defends herself as ‘the victim’…wait, am I spotting a trend here? Of course, we think psychology has a huge amount to offer business, but the endless and self-obsessed self-analysis-thinking-out-loud is precisely what makes her so DARNED IRRITATING!!!! Stop telling us who you are and just be! Letting people take you or leave you as they find you, and then just Being, is a great lesson from true self-awareness that, for example, a psychometric feedback gives you.

Ben gets this week’s award for top marks on aptitude with the glorious deduction that “Gateway suggests it’s the gate to somewhere” – 110% for that observation Ben! I’m not sure how he’d stack up in our ability tests! Again we wish we’d be able to assess the candidates on their way into the competition – such geeky fun to be had!

Whilst trying to work out who is muppet of the week, we started to think that Lorraine should get this award – just for the open-mouth jaw-dropped pose she so fondly loves. A bit like a guppy fish- does that make her gup-pet of the week?!