"This week Trump asked Michael the
question my kids and I have been asking
him through the TV all week: How
stupid can you be?
Stupid enough to alienate his entire
team by sulking and slacking off?
Check. Stupid enough to keep
advancing the same boring, misogynistic
ideas every week? Definitely.
Stupid enough to interrupt while someone
else is potentially getting thrown under
the bus? Sure. Strangely
enough, though, Michael had the
distinction of being Magna's only
winning PM. How did that happen?
In the influence game, Stephanie did
herself a lot of damage this week.
Point One: never back a lawyer
against the rhetorical wall. By
confronting Bren in public, she forced
him to defend the food delivery decision
or be perceived as weak. A much
better move, as Bren himself said, would
have been to step away from the rest of
the team and raise the objection over
the phone before it was too late to do
anything except complain. Point
Two: if you're going to express
doubts about someone else's idea, be
prepared to offer an alternative.
I agreed with her that the mobile
massage thing was not a great idea; it
showed very little imagination, as usual
for Magna. If they hadn't expanded
the concept to include other services I
think they would have bombed
resoundingly. But if
Stephanie is going to make the final
four, she's going to have to break that
pattern of negativity. If doesn't
her team will stop listening to her.
Tara has been practically invisible all
season up to now, going along and
working hard on whatever the rest of the
group chose to do. It was good to
see her get some screen time and save
Angie's butt. Did you see how well
she sold? She talked to the actors
like an insider ("If you don't have
an agent, you can't get anywhere near
someone at this level.") and
convinced them to part with hard-earned
cash for the opportunity. That the
casting director actually hired some
people was great. Not only did it
boost Net Worth's belief in the service,
but it probably also helped with
marketing. Word of mouth is
powerful, and actors are a close-knit
community. The growing momentum as
the day went on is likely the result of
word getting around. It would have
to be, since they didn't seem to do any
other marketing other than buttonholing
people in the street. I would have
suggested calling strategic places like
acting classes/studios to help get that
word out sooner.
It's interesting that Bren conceded in
the boardroom and earlier in interview
that Magna lacks something that Net
Worth has: basic street smarts.
Magna is once again two full people
short compared to Net Worth; could we be
seeing the end of the experiment soon?"
Michael Raugh
