Donald Trump - the Apprentice

wisestguy

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did anyone see the apprentice ? it was interesting and relevant to us traders because it tended to reveal the types of personalities of the contestants.

And this showed me why most corporate types make lousy traders , and I include banks and other vanilla financial organisations as such ( though not hedges and managed futures ).

why ? well , to get on in a corp , one has to be superficially nice ,be " slick " , be macho ( but only the GQ type , yeah , they can't deal with millwall supporters ), get on within the structure of things , be bloody ruthless to your underlings , not upset the applecart too much and ABOVE all , grovel to the boss , and swallow whatever he commands be it good, bad, or ugly for the business.

So , in episode 2 , 3 characters were up for firing . 1 was 100 % the above , the second a wannabe of the above , but was obviously no good at it .

the third was the interesting one , a maverick , a bit if a rebel , independent if maybe a little naive and aggressive.

the final result was that #2 got fired . #1 being the king groveller that he was, stayed and surprisingly so did #3 , the brass apparently impressed by his maverickness ( but of course , being the yuppies that they are wary at the same time ) , to give him another chance.

for traders personality # 3 was much more suited to trading , though of course he would need a bit more discipline and training.

what is more to the point I thought was that none of the other " corporate types " had what it took to be a good trader. all the " qualities " listed above would do them no good .

sadly this in my experience apllies to ALL corporations , even banks and merchant banks .


So , you see , you need to be a bit of a rebel and a maverick , that helps you think out of the box and against the grain becuase that is surely what the other 80% are doing and they are losers.
you want to win .

you also have to be truly independent in the whole sense of even being independent of your emotions ( greed , fear , money etc ).

so really whatever way you cut , to make it in this game you have to be a thorough individual.
And this is against what are supposedly corporate values.


- Can't think OTB if boss gonna get angry coz you outshine him ! -
 
I thought Sam was half crazed but he added a humour factor to the show.Trump called him a 'wild man' who might crash and burn.I think he will unfortunately.
 
Blairlogie said:
The best traders are usually ugly traders.........

They're too good-looking!

How come Im not a millionaire yet then ?
 
When you got hit with the ugly stick,you just held onto it instead of renting it out
 
Even with a face like Schnorbitz, you'd still be too good-looking to be a successful trader!

On a serious note though, it is interesting that there is a general consensus that attractive people are more successful in business. All the contestants in the apprentice seem to fit that stereotype.

I suppose us ugly traders chose to trade for a living because no one actually needs to see us!

(Well it works for me)
 
thats why i lost money yesterday , "i'm too sexy for the markets"!! ( too sexy by far)
 
Thirteen said:
like bernie ecclestone?

like robert maxwell?

like donald trump?

naaa

runts & mutts tend to be driven to success and money cos its the only way theyll ever be able to get a real honey in the sack ;)

AAAH!...Theres the difference!...They are all entrepreneurs who run their own business...They were all too ugly to join corpaorate / institutional life and sleep their way to the top!
 
well sam wasn't exactly good looking so like I said out of all , he was the best suited for trading.

the others , looks notwithstanding are grade A corporate grovellers.
 
There is a UK version of this being made right now for the BBC except that it is Alan Sugar instead of Mr Trump. It will be interesting to see the difference between the two as I cannot imagine Alan Sugar having quite the same level of ego as his US counterpart.


Paul
 
Trader333 said:
I cannot imagine Alan Sugar having quite the same level of ego as his US counterpart.
Sugar has an ego the size of a small galaxy....I like the guy, but he's a real animal.
 
GJ,

well , they may be young , but really I can't see them changing ther ways . most of them love to grovel in the time honoured corporate fashion.
 
Trader333 said:
There is a UK version of this being made right now for the BBC except that it is Alan Sugar instead of Mr Trump. It will be interesting to see the difference between the two as I cannot imagine Alan Sugar having quite the same level of ego as his US counterpart.


Paul

No, but then I cant see him having the riches of Donald Trump either.........
 
ego is the main game when it comes to the corporate world , very little to do with maximising profits and minimising risks .

that is what we traders do . a corporate person will never succeed as an independent trader , even if he was ex golman sachs . bank = corporation = grovelling first , excellence a long second .

can't be a good trader without excellence in a lot of areas , never mind a top trader .
 
I have watched this programme closely and find that it highlights almost everything that is wrong with Corporate culture. It seems to be all balls and no brains.

I thought this kind of approach died in the '80's...If not, it should have done.

As for The Donald's hairstyle........What's going on there?!
 
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