I’ve been watching a lot of The Apprentice lately. Always been a fan. Henry, my partner, can’t stand it and walks out of the room, but I explain patiently to him: look, I’m running my own business, it’s good for me to see how other people do it, I might learn something.
I’m beginning to wonder, though. Claude, Sir Alan’s ever present henchman, adopts a sneer as his default facial expression while watching the dwindling numbers of contestants. Karren, the other sidekick, seems to prefer a snarl.
I’m all for decision-makers making decisions — in the deadline stuccoed world of news that I inhabit half the week, it’s essential. But in my experience, snarling and sneering as you make them isn’t often the best approach.
Part of the fun of my Newsroom Bootcamp for Business is playing with deadlines — five people, six minutes, plenty to get through, someone’s got to make that decision. But if Karren and Claude were around the table, I’m not sure they’d have much to contribute.