The Apprentice...reminds me of nursing

[live4today, RN]

Did anyone see Donald Trump's new show on t.v. tonight titled "The Apprentice....The Ultimate Job Interview"?

That show reminded me of nursing...how the genders handle conflict and pressure vs. challenge and perseverance on the job.

The men went to work right away on their assigned task. They had no trouble delegating, but they had trouble listening to one another's ideas and how to mesh those ideas into success. At the end of the day, the men only doubled their profit.

The women argued for almost two hours....cat fighting as SOME women are known to do quite well. Two women took off and bought the supplies, set up the lemonade stand, and started selling. The other women had to find them by phone...once they joined them, they used their "sex appeal" to sell their product (lemonade) and quadrupled their profit by the end of the day.

I wanted to present this scenario on this thread to see if we can find a likeness in the way men handle tension and challenges on the job compared to the way women handle tension and challenges on the job when it comes to the environments we work in as nurses.

Healthcare is a big business much like Donald Trump's Big business world. The tension, the stress, the cut-throating and cat fighting are all around us as nurses. What is the best way we can change the environment we work in to make it a more peaceful one to co-exist in?

I remember many a day this past year on my former job where I saw a lot of the same behavior portrayed on "The Apprentice" tonight. I plan to watch as much of this show as possible as I think I will learn a lot about the corporate structure and how they survive the pain of it all.....or not.

[MJB]

Hey, I just finished watching this show 30 minutes ago. I had to lie down on my bed for 30 minutes because it got me so depressed. I'm trying to find out the direction of my life and I am kind of interested in business, for the thrill of the action, and the constant building and creating.

From watching "The Apprentice," I saw all the things in people and situations that I really try hard to avoid: the manipulation, the power-hungriness, the greed, the anyone-else-but-me-anything-to-save-me-me-me mentality-- just all the two-faced qualities of hyper Type A personalities.

I feel I am a Type A personality, I'm a good leader, I'm inventive, I'm smart, I'm original, I know how to work around. But I just don't want to deal with the BS of business.

I decided to go online and look what I found--- wow, I'm glad. So really, how is nursing like business? I guess this helping profession gives as much BS, with less money and prestige and mobility.

[live4today, RN]

Hi MJB :)

I know what you mean. I worked in the business world prior to entering healthcare, and I learned then that business wasn't for me since I hate the" cut-throat greediness", and "step on anyone in your way as long as you get what you want" mentality.

So, I became a nurse. It wasn't until this past year that I came to realize by shock that nursing has been swept under the rug for the most part by the corporations that have taken over the healthcare field....making it no longer about healing as much as it is about making money anyway it can be made no matter who gets hurt...........we nurses are getting hurt big time, too.

So now that I know that healthcare is a "business" that tends to step on and not lift up their nursing staff, I am contemplating many changes with my career choice today. This past year really did a job on me, and I'm not sure if I want to return to it. Barnes and Nobles is looking pretty good to me right now. Or, perhaps working in a small public library reading stories to children. I'm still in shock I suppose.

[rn-jane]

I loved that show!! The women on the show seriously did remind me of personalties of people i've known in nursing. The girl that did not care about the group and only did her own thing. the girls who was cat fighting over for position, that their ideas had to be heard and were the only way to do things. Then the girls that used sex appeal to make the customer happy.

[Dixen81]

I thought the show was a hoot! I hope the snobby, selfish girl and Sam get fired next!

[colleen10]

I watched that show and think I'll keep watching it.

I used to work in business also and watching everone get hyper and excited about selling lemonade actually made me get all excited and missing the days when I was in business. But, I agree, the reason I decided to leave business is because of the "dog eat dog" of it all. But I truly think that I'll feel excited again once I start working in nursing.

I really thought the women would pull together a lot better and more quickly than they did. I couldn't believe that with all these well educated, well experienced and driven women they were standing around crying, complaining and not able to find their butt from a whole in the ground, wasteing time.

I have worked in teams comprised solely of women and never had that type of experience at all. I was really surprised to see that the women won, it seemed that even though the guys didn't always listen to each other, they were much more organized and could present their product better with the free cart and table they got.

Ah well, guess we all know now not to sell lemonade in front of a fish market.

[live4today, RN]

colleen10................I guess it goes to show that no matter how educated and experienced a person is doesn't mean that person is socially mature to handle what they know or how to apply it to any given situation. :)

rn-jane...................I thought the same thing.........just like some women to flaunt their sex appeal to make a sucker out of a man in less than a red hot second. That type of conniving is what got us in hot water with our MAKER in the first place (Eve's sex appeal sucked Adam into being disobedient big time). :chuckle

[Agnus]

I did not see it but are you listening to what you are saying. Yess indeed this is the very behaviors we complain about here.

We whine poor me. We say this only happens in nursing. We cat fight back bite eat our young as we call it.etc.

There is a message here.

[live4today, RN]

Agnus.........the purpose of this thread was to compare the same crap nurses put up with to the same crap I saw played out in the business world when I worked in the business side of things, and when I watched the show "The Apprentice" (which is coming on again in about ten minutes).

So what are YOU saying??????

[live4today, RN]

Did anyone see "The Apprentice" tonight?

Again, the women used their "sexual charm" to sell their advertising of "The Marquis" card to the "client", and won.

The guys lost, but in my opinion....they had the best presentation because it was presented very professional...unlike the way the women presented their advertisement.

So the women were flown by jet to Boston for dinner at The Olive Restaurant, and Donald Trump met the guys in the board room again where one guy was fired.

The guy fired was the team captain who failed to meet with "the client" to find out what the client wanted. Donald told him that was a huge mistake not meeting with the client because if you don't know what the client wants how do you know your presentation to the client will be acceptable "by the client"? That was the sole reason the guy was fired.

The "PITR" (pain in the rear).......named Sam.....cocky as all get out. Makes me wonder if he is a "plant" on the show to make it more interesting. Hard to believe someone can actually be that cocky, but again------maybe not.

In nursing, "the client" must be asked what they want from us. Failure to ask lands the nurse in major hot water with "the boss" (the nurse manager) and most of all with "the client" and the client's family.

Even knowing what the client wants....we still have to be careful of our presentation or it won't sell. The client is the most important part of our day. No client........no sell.....no need for healthcare staff (including docs). :)

I don't know about you, but I'm loving the comparison of nursing to this show. So far, Donald Trump is a good educator of what sells and what will place the right people at the top of the rung in life when it comes to being successful at what we want in life. :)

Success spells many things. To some it's $$$$. To some its nonmaterial. Whatever success spells for each of us, is what will motivate us to succeed in order to obtain it. :)

I'm learning out loud here on this thread. I'm sure everyone else already knows everything I'm talking about anyway. However........I'm so intrigued by "The Apprentice" and Donald Trump that I just want to share this show and the ideas and thoughts I'm picking up and piecing together with others who may be interested. That's all. :)