Hey

I've been thinking about this programme (absolutely love it).

BUT I'd really like to know in the real world would anyone actually want to work for Lord Sugar.

I know it's exciting being on a t.v. programme and it's a great salary but I mean in real life.

How would you feel working for someone who overtalks you at times, who asks you a question and you try to explain but he is fed up of the 'detail' and moves on.

He's one tough cookie and I know a lot of bosses are but if you had the choice and the same money and no t.v. programme would you rather work for someone else?

Why not. Its not like Sugar is going to micro-manage anyone he brings in.

I have worked under managers who like to meddle in what you do and have these huge ego trips, but Id work for Sugar any day for that salary.

well none seem to stay by him after the year is up and some go even before.

Not true.

Simon Ambrose = 3 years
Lee McQueen = 2 years
Yasmina Siadatan = 1 year (and counting)

It's a TV programme. What we see of Lord Sugar is his TV persona, not the real person. The boardroom sessions last hours and are edited down to fit the programme. The candidates get plenty of chances to talk.

What would happen if someone just called him Alan? Is it treason?

He'd pwn them with a witty remark.

I don't think I'd want to work for Lord Sugar- while I like the fact that he doesn't take any rubbish I think that a rule of fear isn't the way forward, and I think that is how he can come across sometimes.

But surely you understand that he's being edited for television. And I'm pretty sure he didn't come up with all those witty remarks on his own. And you have to take into account that in every boardroom we see he is supposed to fire someone, if you were to work for him he wouldn't fire you every day.

My favourite Alan Sugar (as he was back then) story is from the 80s, when Amstrad was just a small company flogging computers. He was in a boardroom with his marketing and R&D guys who were showing him a new chip.

"So, what is it?" he asked.

"It's a [name of chip], capable of computing x bits per second"

"Yes, but what is it?" he asked again.

"It's a processor for the motherboard (or whatever 80s computers had instead if they had something instead)"

"Yes, but what is it?" he repeated.

This went on for about 5 minutes before one of his employees twigged what the right answer was - "It's £2.61, Mr. Sugar".

^^Haha! Reminds me so much of my boyfriends dad. He IS Lord Alan Sugar through and through...just without the money obviously.

Yes you're right- he would have to be a pretty strict boss to have to fire someone every day!

I listened to an interview with him a couple of months ago on Frontrow, where they specifically asked him if he did come up with those one liners himself and he swore blind that he did...

I suppose I'm just keen to suspend my disbelief as I'm completely addicted to the show!

I have been working for Lord Sugar directly for over 30 years. While his manner IS as you see him on The Apprentice, he's not so ruthless as to fire people as he does in the TV boardroom. You would have to do something seriously wrong repeatedly to get that sort of treatment. The great thing about working for him is that he gives you great autonomy. Once he trusts you, his micro-management is nil. He gives you the task and expects you to come up with the finished work. Also, he never berates you for an honest mistake, especially when you own up to it. His fiery temper is reserved for those who are downright foolish or wilfully disobedient or dishonest. To many he comes across as irrascible only because he sees the big picture and gets frustrated when others don't. Plus, the man has an AMAZING memory.

I think Tim Cambell stayed for 2 years also (remember reading that somewhere)


That's the impression I got. Thanks for the insight.

Would he admit if he had made a mistake say for example, he had told you to do something and a couple of weeks later it was done. But then he realised that what you've done is not what he really wanted.

Why is he so lax about dishonesty in the show? For example, he didn't care about Lee lying on his CV and then repeating the lie in the interview round? He didn't penalise Chris and Stuart for the stories they told to get discounts.

I can't say that I would want to work for him

I think what I was trying to say was a bit wrong really.

I'm trying to figure out if anyone would want to work for a boss who is LIKE him.

If he wasn't on the T.V. etc and you had a boss like that I wonder if you would be trying to find another job or if you'd enjoy the challenge of it.

It's good to know that he doesn't micro manage I must admit.

I wouldn't want to work for anyone who was pompous etc

Me neither. I just don't get it apart from maybe the contestants are using it to get on T.V. and for the large salary if they win and for exposure and maybe the offer of something else.

I suspect that a great deal of the 'pomp' is down to the production company.

He really, really, doesn't strike me as the sort of person who would insist that they all say 'Good morning Lord Sugar' like a primary school class.

But he is quite happy to go along with it

Not to wade in with the boring, correct answer, but...


http://www.radiotimes.com/blogs/588-...-rt-questions/

Sir Alan, do you really insist on being called 'Sir Alan'?

"No, not at all. I've stopped my wife calling me Sir Alan now. But people I've never met before should call me Sir Alan. It's got nothing to do with having a knighthood or anything like that. People shouldn't call me Alan if they don't know me. I felt like this when I was Mr Sugar. I don't like people who are so familiar. I'm old-fashioned like that.

"Obviously people like Nick don't call me Sir Alan. Employees who've known me for years don't, either, but they will refer to me as Sir Alan if they're speaking to someone else who does not know me: 'Well, you'd better ask Sir Alan that question.'

"Of course if you're in America, you accept being addressed by your first name because you know it's a cultural thing. Over there, the detectives call criminals by their first names. It's a case of 'When in Rome'. So you put up with it."

That's the name he was born with. Just because some woman, who herself through luck got herself called a queen, decided to call him a lord.

Erm, H M the Q doesn't decide these things.

She acts entirely on the advice of her elected ministers.

Effectively he got his title from the PM.