Apprentice 101: Lessons learned from the finale

Sunday night's live finale of "The Apprentice" took place amid fireworks at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, where Stefani heard the most anticipated words of the show: "You're hired."

Donald Trump began by firing Nicole and Frank after their less-than-stellar performance on the final task. He then let James and Stefani present their final arguments for why they should be hired. Stefani had her best showing of the season. She was articulate and polished, and she described her work as a defense lawyer (specializing in construction claims) in a way that we could imagine her being a fit in Trump's world.

Trump and his advisers voiced concerns over her lack of leadership during this season's tasks, but in the end he chose her. While I could certainly see her in a boardroom, I found it puzzling that after 13 weeks of hearing Trump talk about the importance of leadership, he chose someone who flew under the leadership radar.

James (our local Internet entrepreneur) didn't come off as strong as Stefani in the final boardroom. He centered most of his arguments on his technology talents, which might not have been the best tactic with an "old school" guy such as Trump.

Despite his significant winning record as project manager, James wasn't able to overcome something that bothered Trump, who left us wondering exactly what this was: "There were certain things and certain dialogue that you gave during the course, and you know what I'm talking about, that bothered me very much."

We can only guess what he meant -- which, by the way, isn't good policy to leave someone wondering why he or she was fired.

We saw some great examples of what it takes to win on this show (and how to lose). All the candidates looked good on paper -- a reminder that résumés alone don't necessarily equate to strong leaders or managers. The final four candidates all had noteworthy qualities in common. They demonstrated impressive loyalty to their teammates. They were all highly creative, enthusiastic, self-confident and hard workers willing to get their hands dirty. Remember Stefani (the winner) overcoming her fear of bees?

What separated the final two candidates from Nicole and Frank?

Frank: On the positive side were his passion and "can do" attitude. But his loud interpersonal style would be hard to deal with in the boardroom. He didn't have a strong showing in the finale, and he came off as neither polished nor articulate.

Nicole: She was highly passionate throughout the season, able to talk her teammates into almost any of her ideas. But Trump cited her choice of taking her eyes off him for an office romance as the main reason he let her go.

The "edge" for the final two candidates was their professionalism and ability to present themselves positively and confidently. Stefani stood out from James with her strong presentation skills, her peers' respect and her ability to articulate her experience as being the most valuable to Trump. I was particularly impressed when she expressed that her job as a leader was to "make sure her team looked good." Stefani got it -- these are words for leaders to live by.

Lessons from the coach

Passion and work ethic: Winners have enthusiasm and a positive attitude. Although all four finalists exemplified this, Frank could be this season's poster man. Despite his lack of sophistication, I give him a lot of credit for his workhorse approach and passion.

Emotional intelligence: Today's leaders must deal with challenging personalities and demonstrate outstanding interpersonal skills. Stefani got along well with everyone. Understanding your effect on others is a fundamental skill many managers lack today. Hire self-aware people who will get along well with the team.

Allow and support creativity and failure: In almost every episode including the finale, Trump asked his dreaded boardroom question, "Whose idea was it?" Leaders need to be very cautious with the "kill the messenger" approach. The best leaders foster creative collaboration. Encourage wild and crazy ideas from everyone during a brainstorming session and select the best idea based on a solid decision-making process. If the plan goes south, the entire team needs to embrace the failure and identify the lesson learned.

Personal and professional judgment: Office romances are risky and often end up interfering with business and morale. Maybe Nicole and Tim are the true winners because they found each other, but their risk for romance lost them this show and the job.

Trust: On a true performing team, it is understood that they will cover for one another's weaknesses. We saw several teams do this well. Remember when Kinetic overcame its leadership vacuum with creative last-minute promotions in the grocery-store episode? James and Stefani also gave us a great example of complementing each other's styles during the final task, with James' creativity and Stefani keeping them on track.

High-performing teams foster a spirit of collaboration and camaraderie. Arrow was a great example of this through most of this season.

It was sad to see James want the victory so badly and come so close. Frankly, I think he is better off. Obviously he is a highly successful entrepreneur without mentoring from Trump. My advice to James: Keep doing what you're doing. In my book, you made Seattle proud.

ABOUT THE SERIES

What can real-world business leaders learn from the NBC series

"The Apprentice"? That's the question the Seattle P-I posed to Maureen Moriarty, who uses the show as a teaching and coaching tool.