Why I hate The Apprentice

 

Am I the only person who loathes The Apprentice?

This programme seems to have nothing to do with entrepreneurship. It is all about encouraging young people to make unsustainable boasts, and then humiliating them on television.

In 2007 I started an Award for business leadership, largely motivated by my dislike of The Apprentice.

This is what I said to business leaders at the time:

“We want to identify and spotlight the best business leaders at work in Britain today, and we are very much hoping that you can help us.

We think that television programmes such as ‘The Apprentice’, or ‘Trouble at the Top’, bear little relation to the reality of corporate life. Worse still they often give young people, at the outset of their careers, an image of business which is inaccurate and damaging. Nor is the problem confined to television, across the media boardrooms are often portrayed as ‘piranha bowls’ of conflict and internecine tension, and more is written about executive pay than is ever written about executive achievement. The problem isn’t helped by the fact that many of our most successful business executives are barely known to the public.

In truth, Britain is home to some of the world’s best run companies. We believe that highlighting the work of the best business leaders, and the best management practice, will pay dividends to the wider business world, and give young people a less distorted view of commerce.

In 2007 we are going to present our first ‘Business Leader of the Year Award’. We will give the trophy to the winner at a simple ceremony in London, and ask them to give a short talk on their achievements and their views on business leadership. The purpose of the award is to highlight and publicise the best business leadership we can find anywhere, and to stimulate debate.”

We gave the first award to Stuart Rose of Marks & Spencer.

Katie Hopkins, an unsuccessful Apprentice whom I tussled with on-air, seems to epitomise all this programme stands for.

I presented the first Business Leader of the Year Award to Stuart Rose (right) of Marks & Spencer in 2007