'Go Team' vs. 'Go Away'

As Senior Advisor to the CEO, Dave focuses on key projects important to PMI’s mission and community. Prior to that, as Chief Strategy & Growth Officer for PMI, Dave collaboratively defined and drove the execution of the Institute's strategy to create exponential growth in relevance and impact. Working globally, across the organization to define, test, and deliver "new products that matter," which will deliver dramatic increases in value to our customers.

 

In The Apprentice, Donald Trump makes quick and dirty judgments about each contestant's leadership skills. It's stressful, there is not enough time to execute and the competition is intense--so it's a lot like a real project environment.

A leader is someone who makes the right decisions at the right time, and what's "right" is nearly always determined in hindsight (for more on two contestants who did it perfectly, check out our interviews with Kelly Perdew and Bill Rancic, winners of the first two installments of The Apprentice). During the decision-making process, a team always has different views, and being open to input from team members has always been generally accepted as an important management concept. Each of the Apprentice winners stressed the importance of team input to their success.

Yet there's always a special balance between openness and decisiveness--probably leaning far more toward the unilateral decision-making that people often identify with leadership.

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