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Thin-Ice Skater Meets Mr. Smooth
Mr. Trump welcomed the hard-hatted
candidates and executives for Ace Hardware and Boys & Girls Clubs of America
to the 59th floor of 40 Wall Street. The mogul's multi-million dollar
skyscraper is undergoing renovation, and Trump carried the rebuilding motif
over to this week's
task: To create a new themed activity area
in a local Boys & Girls Club as part of the Ace Hardware "Helpful Faces for
Friendly Places" program. The corporations' efforts would be judged by three
criteria: creativity, functionality and executive appeal.
With a
boardroom warning from Mr. Trump still
echoing in
Lenny's mind ("As far as I'm concerned
Lenny, you're on thin ice"), the
spunky Russian decided there was no better
time to step up as project manager for Gold Rush. Meanwhile, smooth-talking
Michael took the helm of Synergy, which
seemed in perfect harmony after winning two weeks in a row.
Synergy and Gold Rush: Remodel
Citizens
Michael's reputation as an efficient
colleague clearly suffered during his reign as PM. His micro-management,
tendency to over-verbalize and indecisiveness frustrated Synergy. For
instance, Michael dragged out Synergy's initial meeting with the execs to 45
minutes.
Andrea summed up the general consensus:
"I'm pretty frustrated. Everything is taking so much longer than it needs
to. Michael cannot make the smallest decision."
Sean was more succinct: "Michael is such a
wanker!" Though Synergy barely made it to
Ace Hardware before closing, they pulled an all-nighter and created a
multi-purpose
interactive lounge for the Boys & Girls
Club that included karaoke, group games and relaxation areas.
Meanwhile,
Lenny's tenure as PM got off on the wrong
foot and just kept limping. He failed to create a compelling theme during
brain-storming sessions and was unprepared for Gold Rush's meeting with the
execs, which was mostly 10 minutes of
awkward silence. "These are our judges and
Lenny just didn't care," said
Charmaine. Lenny decided to create a
music room for the Boys & Girls Club and
spent most of his budget on instruments, and little on renovation supplies
from Ace. In addition,
Lee and Lenny got lost in traffic while
purchasing the instruments, leaving
Leslie, Charmaine and
Tarek to do the
bulk of the renovation. "Lenny's lucky he
has three people working as hard as we are," said Tarek, "because we could
have just let this turn into a total freakin' distaster."
Gifts That Keep On Giving
Gold Rush felt buoyant when they saw the reaction of the kids to their room.
"Music is a universal language," said
Lee. "I really think we have a win." But
the executives felt that "Synergy hit the mark better," with a multipurpose
room that emphasized group activities.
"The greatest thing you can do is to give," said
Trump, and Synergy was given the
opportunity to keep on giving. For their reward, Synergy helped a
cancer-stricken little girl enjoy a
shopping spree at Toys "R" Us, courtesy of
the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Mr. Trump stopped by to meet little Dasheaira
and encouraged her to snag even more toys. Dasheaira thanked Trump for
making her wishes come true.
But as Synergy basked in the glow of giving back to the community, Gold Rush
was about to find themselves on the receiving end of Trump’s firing squad.
Lenny: Russian to the Exit
Trump began by asking
Charmaine's opinion of
Lenny and she characterized him as an
ineffective leader who made bad decisions.
Lenny countered by saying "Charmaine is hard to manage." Trump didn't appear
to see it that way and took up Charmaine's point that Lenny had been
ill-prepared for Gold Rush's initial meeting with the executives, the people
who would ultimately judge the task. Furthermore,
Bill contended that Lenny's music-only
theme was too narrow in scope for the Boys & Girls Club and Trump agreed.
Lee repeatedly
leapt to Lenny's defense ("I think Lenny
did a fantastic job"), prompting Bill to ask, "Lee, are you his attorney?"
If so, his client was found guilty of being a bad project manager. Without a
final boardroom, Trump sentenced Lenny: "The room wasn't good, the
leadership wasn't good.
Lenny, you're fired."
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