A cracking episode. The candidates were tasked with designing a brand of driverless vehicle (aka a Pod), hosting a launch event and pitching their pod to potential clients.
Infinity was led by Akeem and Sophie led team Diverse. We saw many more illustrations of Akeem’s indecisiveness, several shots of Aaron’s worried face and further evidence of Brittany’s commitment to environmental sustainability. And as for the Pods that were developed, they were on a par with the toothbrushes developed in episode 2. That is to say, shoddy.
The Podstar party pod developed by Diverse was likened to an exploding toaster by Karren. The BeePure Pod was compared to food truck for kids. But despite that, the teams made some big money, pulling in £535k and £1.2m respectively. Team Infinity winners were treated to a white-water rafting experience to celebrate their success. It’s a good job Akeem didn’t have to go to “the loser’s café”, he’d have had a terrible time picking from the menu.
Let’s look at what we learned this week.
Lessons learned
- Play to the strengths and passions of your team members
Akshay volunteered to take the role of Project Manager for Diverse. He has a genuine passion for cars and tech. But he was trumped by Sophie who professed her love for… interior design. Akshay then asked work on the sub-team dealing with the customer and understanding their technical requirements. He was snubbed again and put on the design team. He did his best with the brief he was provided – “it needs to be something that screams wow” (it certainly did do that, but for all the wrong reasons). What a waste of potential.
- Nothing is more dangerous than that right answer to the wrong question
When interviewing corporate clients, neither of the teams got to grips with their requirements and established how many pods the clients were interested in or what they were prepared to pay. Some general questions were asked (“is there anything you feel would be really important for us to implement?”) – and the clients asked the teams to consider the diversity of the users and warned against developing anything too “niche”. Peter Drucker famously stated, “Nothing is more dangerous in business than the right answer to the wrong question”. Well, not only did the teams ask the wrong questions, they also ignored the answers.
- Make eye contact to connect with your audience when presenting
…or if eye contact is too much, at least face in their general direction! Akeem introduced potential clients to the BeePure Pod with his back to them. “Rule number one of presentations is to engage with your audience” said Tim. Quite.
Management Speak of the Week
Two laugh out loud comments this week:
“Pardy pod. Pod pardy. What about something like Celebrate. Celepod. ‘Cos you’re out there. Celebrading in a … Pod.” – Akshay, brainstorming names for the Pod that needed to scream wow.
“Be quiet. Just be quiet” – Lord Sugar to Nick.
Ones to Watch?
Harpreet took the lead in client discussions and faced up to the client after making a mistake during negotiations – not an easy thing to do. Brittany and Kathryn both appeared to make positive contributions to their teams.
For the next challenge the teams will host a racing themed corporate away-day. It should be a wheely good episode!
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