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Unhappy Returns and Joyful Rebirth
Shocked by the return to the suite of Markus rather than ChrIS, the men of
Excel pledged to make a new start with a clean slate and, in Josh's words,
"Leave the boardroom in the boardroom." They had little choice as Trump
promptly assigned the next task: Each corporation would have a roughly
equivalent space in which to throw a technology expo in the Cedar Crest
Village Home in Pompton Plains, NJ.
The women of Capital Edge also experienced a surprising return to the suite,
with Rebecca coming back from the hospital with a cast on her broken ankle.
Dispelling any notion of weakness, Rebecca swiftly volunteered as project
manager and said of her injury, "This isn't gonna hold me back. I never go
down that easy."
Randal eagerly took the project manager role for Excel. He hoped to lead the
corporation to victory as a tribute to the memory of his recently departed
grandmother.
A Bad Spell Helps Excel to Excel
Under Randal's leadership, Excel devised a plan to demystify the machines
and engage the seniors with friendly technology. Markus led a TiVo
presentation, Adam demonstrated instant digital photography, and Clay and
Brian explored hobbies and interests via the Internet. With an inviting
spread of snacks and engaging presentations, Excel did well.
The women thought their superior people skills would give them the edge. But
things were a little bumpy as strong-willed Rebecca rankled some of her
colleagues in the planning and set-up phase of the expo. Alla knocked
Rebecca's management approach as "very abrasive," while Kristi complained
about a lack of motivation: "If she can't get us jazzed, that's not a
leader."
Because Jennifer W. had previous experience as an event planner, Rebecca
delegated the display and refreshments to her while the rest of the women
focused on presentations. But Jennifer W.'s setup and refreshments
underwhelmed the seniors. Carolyn was even less impressed, calling the room
drab and dull, and pointing out that "Techno" was misspelled on a cake (as "Tethno")
To make matters worse, Toral had trouble working the huge HDTV. Despite
these difficulties, many senior men enjoyed the ladies presence, especially
beauty queen Jennifer M.'s high tech workout routine. Capital Edge hoped the
effort would be enough to keep them out of boardroom peril.
Men Play Santa, Women Get Scrooged
With a Tech Expo user rating tally that was surprisingly close (8.1 to 7.9),
Excel defeated Capital Edge to earn the reward. One of the comments about
Capital Edge from an Expo goer read by Carolyn helped explain the thin
margin of victory. "Thanks for the pretty girls, informed technicians would
have helped."
While allowing that both corporations had done good work helping seniors and
that all of them were winners in the broad sense, Trump dispatched the men
to continue giving back to the community. Their reward was distributing tens
of thousands of dollars worth of free electronics to kids in the hospital.
Excel bonded just as well with the younger generation as they had with the
seniors. "It puts everything into perspective," said Josh . "You can't
really quantify the value of giving a gift and a smile to a kid." Added
Mark, "It was like being Santa Claus."
Meanwhile Mr. Trump played Scrooge to the women of Capital Edge, gifting
them with a free trip to the boardroom where someone would be fired.
When Being Wrong Is Right
Even before the boardroom, Jennifer W. knew she was in trouble when Rebecca
singled her out as the weakest link at the results meeting. "Rebecca threw
me under the bus in the boardroom," said Jennifer M., "in front of Mr.
Trump, Carolyn and George."
It got worse. Carolyn said Jennifer W.'s event planning was lacking: "There
was nothing to this presentation. It was boring." Jennifer W. deflected
attention to Toral, saying her HDTV demo was a disaster, an opinion echoed
by most of Capital Edge. Toral turned defensive and condescending,
criticizing the others' education and work experience. Mr. Trump challenged
Toral and said she should probably be brought back for the firing, but
Rebecca leapt to her defense. Over Trump's objection, Rebecca stubbornly
refused to bring Toral back, selecting Jennifer W. and Jennifer M. instead.
"I believe in Toral, I believe in her abilities." Rebecca said. "And as a
result I am incapable of bringing her in here whether or not that leads to
my defeat, which it might, but I will never compromise my integrity. I will
not allow that to be set aside for one short term gain."
"I hate your decision, because I think you're wrong." Trump said. "But what
I do like is your loyalty." Jennifer W. maintained that Rebecca's loyalty
was misplaced: "I think it shows her poor leadership that she lets her
friendship with Toral cloud her judgment." Trump however was impressed with
Rebecca's toughness and fired Jennifer W. After the applicants left the
boardroom, Trump mused to George and Carolyn about Rebecca: "This girl's
either gonna be great or a disaster."
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