So he was irritating, he had incredible eyebrows, he was somewhat arrogant and demonstrated poor social skills ... that said, I believe Alex was the best of the candidates in The Apprentice because whether you liked him or loathed him, he was the only person in the competition to show that he can produce brilliant ideas and turn them into reality.
Week 1 - The flat-pack task:
It was Alex who came up with the idea of a chair, whose back could slide down in order to make a coffee table. He sketched it, he persuaded the others to back it, he designed the mechanics and he oversaw it's production. Lord Sugar stated that it was the best product ever produced on The Apprentice and on this task alone, Alex should have made the final.
Week 9 - The ready meal task:
As project manager, Alex unfortunately allowed himself to be talked into backing a daft idea ('deadly dinners') by the smooth and persuasive Miles. But Alex's original idea of the pop-ty-ping character who would be the icon for various international dishes was excellent, and he had already sketched it out.
As well has his innovative ability, you cannot question Alex's commitment to the cause as a team player. I can't think that any of the other lads would have so willingly taken on the role of Herbert the pervert as Alex did in the internet dating task, or would they have so passionately played the role of the Sergeant Major in the away-day task.
Lord Sugar's reasoning for firing Alex was that because he'd had moved around several business ideas prior to participating in The Apprentice, he lacked focus and should learn to settle on one thing. Furthermore, Alex had failed to go with his gut instinct on the ready meal task. But a lack of focus and a failure to go with your intuition can easily be worked on and improved, particularly for someone in their early 20s. What cannot be taught so easily is the ability to design brilliant concepts and turn them into reality.
Question - So who should have been fired the week that Alex got the boot?
Answer - Miles
Miles's composure in the boardroom put him head and shoulders above the others and was perhaps a reflection of his extra years of experience (at 39, he was the oldest candidate in the process). But Miles showed no ability to design new concepts and his 'deadly dinners' idea in the ready meal task showed a complete misunderstanding of his target market (the parents). In this task, he was fully responsible for his team's loss and should have been fired.
Conclusions:
1) It's reassuring to see someone of Lord Sugar's reputation make the wrong decision, but then it's not the first time I suppose. It was of course Lord Sugar who as the Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur and presented with the opportunity of signing Dennis Bergkamp (one of the most gifted footballers ever to have graced the premier league), balked at the £7.5M price tag, declaring he would not pay so much for Dennis 'Kick-a-ball' Bergkamp. So Bergkamp went to their arch rivals Arsenal and gave them a decade of majestic football and numerous trophies along the way.
2) If it was my £250,000, I'd rather pass on the smooth operators and invest it in someone with innovative ability, even if that person was a bit arrogant, slightly odd and had bushy eyebrows!
Thanks for reading
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