“It’s ‘The Apprentice,’ not ‘The Apprenti.'”
— Randal Pinkett, winner of “The Apprentice,” on whether his competitor should also be offered a job.
Randal Pinkett’s quote will go down as one of the most memorable in reality TV history. But it also reflects a major difference between men and women and their approaches to management and leadership in the workplace, many observers said.
For non-viewers of the hit show “The Apprentice”: Pinkett uttered the quote after Donald Trump an-nounced that he had beaten Chicagoan Rebecca Jarvis to win a $200,000-a-year position in Trump’s empire.
After Pinkett shouted jubilantly, Trump — clearly wanting to bring the talented Jarvis into his empire, too — said, “Randal, let me ask you a question. If you were me, would you hire Rebecca also?”
Pinkett seemed to have everything to gain and nothing to lose. To give Trump the green light on bringing Jarvis into the Trump organization would have made Pinkett look like a magnanimous winner and a team player.
So even Trump was surprised when Pinkett answered: “I firmly believe this is ‘The Apprentice’ — that there is one and only one apprentice, and if you’re going to hire someone tonight, it should be one. It’s ‘The Apprentice,’ not ‘The Apprenti.'”
Pinkett’s decision, some experts said, provided insight into the differences between men and women and how they compete, manage and lead in the workplace.
“It’s a classic case of gender differences: If Rebecca had won and Trump had asked her [if he should also hire Randal], it would never have crossed her mind to say, ‘No,'” said Gail Evans, author of “Play Like a Man, Win Like a Woman: What Men Know About Success That Women Need to Learn.”
True? Jarvis told the Chicago Tribune: “If I was in the same position I absolutely would have hired Randal,” she said. “Frankly, in business, when a talented person comes your way, it’s to your advantage to snap him up. For me, that decision would have been easy — to absolutely hire Randall on the spot.”
Her answer was no surprise to Molly Shepard, founder of the women’s executive leadership firm the Leader’s Edge. “I think 90 if not 95 percent of women would have chosen [that option].”
Then what was behind Pinkett’s decision, which Trump later called “brave” and “a very, very hard business decision”?
Why would most women not have made it?
Said Shepard: “Randal is much more comfortable [than most women] being bold, out for himself, self-promoting. It’s quite fair: He fought hard, why should he share it?”
“Men and women are raised differently in our society, so I think boys are more rewarded for being competitive than girls,” says Robert Nelson, sociology professor at Northwestern University. “Men tend to see often in terms of zero-sum games as opposed to shared benefits. They’re less altruistic. Of course, that’s a generalization, and we do see counterexamples.”
Meanwhile, Shepard said, “women are nice, and we like to play fair” — socialized attributes that often cause women to shirk from the single-minded competitive behavior that Pinkett showed Thursday — and which often is rewarded in the workplace.
Indeed, as Trump told Larry King: “I’ve been called by so many people. … The hardened, veteran, killer business people all thought what Randal did was 100 percent right. He made a business decision. He did what he thought was best … and many, many people thought what Randal did was right.”
Not Northwestern’s Nelson. He thought Pinkett made the wrong choice. “I mean, hell. I’ve run academic institutions, and if you find good talent, you make good use of it,” he said.
What Men Know About Success That Women Need to Learn.”
True? Jarvis told the Chicago Tribune: “If I was in the same position I absolutely would have hired Randal,” she said. “Frankly, in business, when a talented person comes your way, it’s to your advantage to snap him up. For me, that decision would have been easy — to absolutely hire Randall on the spot.”
Her answer was no surprise to Molly Shepard, founder of the women’s executive leadership firm the Leader’s Edge. “I think 90 if not 95 percent of women would have chosen [that option].”
Then what was behind Pinkett’s decision, which Trump later called “brave” and “a very, very hard business decision”?
Why would most women not have made it?
Said Shepard: “Randal is much more comfortable [than most women] being bold, out for himself, self-promoting. It’s quite fair: He fought hard, why should he share it?”
“Men and women are raised differently in our society, so I think boys are more rewarded for being competitive than girls,” says Robert Nelson, sociology professor at Northwestern University. “Men tend to see often in terms of zero-sum games as opposed to shared benefits. They’re less altruistic. Of course, that’s a generalization, and we do see counterexamples.”
Meanwhile, Shepard said, “women are nice, and we like to play fair” — socialized attributes that often cause women to shirk from the single-minded competitive behavior that Pinkett showed Thursday — and which often is rewarded in the workplace.
Indeed, as Trump told Larry King: “I’ve been called by so many people. … The hardened, veteran, killer business people all thought what Randal did was 100 percent right. He made a business decision. He did what he thought was best … and many, many people thought what Randal did was right.”
Not Northwestern’s Nelson. He thought Pinkett made the wrong choice. “I mean, hell. I’ve run academic institutions, and if you find good talent, you make good use of it,” he said.
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lhahn@tribune.com
