Lord Sugar’s advice to Alex the most recent candidate to leave The Apprentice was to focus. At only 22 this candidate had a lot going for him including his enthusiasm. But with the end of the competition in sight Lord Sugar is now looking more carefully at the track record of the participants. He is looking for a good return from his chosen business partner for his investment of £ 250,000.
The warning signs appeared earlier in the programme. Alex suddenly abandoned his own idea of geographically-themed ready meals for children, and gave into the more insistent persuasion of Myles, one of the other contestants. This decision effectively lost them the competition. But in Sugarland as in the real world, it is not enough to say after the event that someone else was wrong.
When asked repeatedly why he had not stuck to his original decision Alex could only quote that he assumed Myles as a father would know the market. He failed to learn from the negative market research from parents who are the real customers of children’s ready meals.
However, in my view, Alex’s real crime was to jump abruptly from one idea to another, and to not hold his nerve. And once his cv was looked at it appeared that this has been a hall mark of his entrepreneurial career. The business idea put forward is around legal services, and he does not have any legal experience. He has however, already sold a business making tombstones.
Lack of focus on the big idea is the bane of many an entrepreneur who typically loves a new idea and wants to move quickly on it. Of course many successful businesses are run by entrepreneurs who employ people to be in the market while they oversee the business. But this is not the desired quality of the winner of the Apprentice.
Alex said in the taxi that he was worn out with thinking about which idea to go with. The magical quality about having a clear focus in a real business – not just a TV programme – is that it helps to make taking decisions easier.