We all know about Karen Bradys rise to fame as the first business manager of a football club.

On the Apprentice, she clucks like an old hen when the argy bargy goes on between contestants during the tasks.

I am not saying she is wrong but when ever has she been in a situation when there isnt a boss, as such, and others can and will argue and backbite.

She has been a boss or working for a boss, but when there isnt a heirachy, and everyone is equal up to a point and being PM is accountable much like being on death row in Apprentice terms.

At college on a BTec course I had to work along the same lines and it is nothing like working in a structured line of command where everyone has to achieve or answer to the next line of management. It is why there is so much team dissention going on.

Try it Karen, it is very different and next time you purse your lips just remember that you got to the top with help from family connections and didnt have to climb the way you are so disdainful about, their behaviour is because they didnt have the big boss laying it on a plate for them as you had, in your initial days.

BIB - I don't think that's true. I think she's got where she's got via hard work and talent. you can read about her early career here - not a family connection in sight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karren_Brady

I don't agree at all. I've worked in many teams made up of people who are all at the same or similar level and have never had to deal with the sort of crazy behaviour these people show. Adults shouldn't need a boss to perform professionally. Respectful debate is one thing - but the backstabbing swearing type behaviour the Apprentice candidates show is not what I ever experienced.

Well her dad was ex chairman of Swindon Town and a director at Portsmouth - so not exactly without connections
Personally I've always been rather suspicious of the David Sullivan connection - just why did he place £2million of advertising with her account in only 6 months And then buy her her own footy team and then appoint her vice chair of West Ham

I'm guessing he did it because he had an advertising budget and saw her as the right person to utilise it? Also he didn't purchase Birmingham City for her, he purchased it for himself on her recommendation and then offered her a role within that company.. Upon purchasing West Ham, he evaluated her job whilst at Birmingham and decided he wanted her at West Ham? .. I don't know what your use of is supposed to mean but it seems obvious to me that my interpretation of the events is slightly closer to the real events than yours

This kind of thread cropped up every year since she joined TA. No one had ever made similar snide criticisms about Nick, like: "Look at Nick, pouting and clucking in disapproval. He wouldn't be on The Apprentice if it wasn't for his friendship with Lord Sugar. He's not even a businessman as he has always been a public relations consultant, so what does he know about running a business?"

Seriously, it's pathetic.

Agreed. Both Karren and Nick are OK.

100% agree. I work in a very cut throat industry made up of big egos and strong personalities and I think the way many of The Apprentice lot act is unprofessional, immature and, quite frankly, pathetic.
Many of them wouldn't last 5 minutes in most of the meeting rooms I've been in over the years.

I often wonder if it's because most of them are self employed and so not used to having to work in a team

LS has in the past made it clear that The Apprentice is not a team game but a chance for each individual to stand out. "There's only one job". So they are pressurised to be assertive and to make it possible for them to claim "I spoke up against the bad decisions of my team, Lord Sugar". They often come across as fairly decent on YF

Karen Bradys father was a colleague of David Gold, who was Birmingham FC chairman as well as David Sullivan's help in buying football clubs and placing her as manager.

She really didnt do it the way she would have people believe. It was given her on a plate. Saying that, from then it was all down to her and while she has done very well for herself, the image she would like us to have of her is not quite the truth.

It is the things she leaves out of her profile which are the most interesting.Best to check several sources rather than just Wiki which will then give a broader view.

My point is that she is quite clearly condescending towards those during a task in situations which she has not been asked to do in her own career.

Others may have a different experience from mine but there were seldom times that full agreement was made with a leaderless team, add the bait of a quarter of a million pounds, then of course it heightens the stress levels.

Even though Karren Brady's dad is a business man, that's no reason to criticise Karren

Not even when she fails to mention the family connections which got her a top job when she had no experience or qualifications.?

She’s peppered with self importance and if she can massacre someone she will do. I’ve long tired of seeing her inveigle herself beyond what’s required. KB has no understanding of impartiality allowing her personal prejudices to stand in the way of scrutinising without bias. It’s simply beyond her to observe and report back.

She’s the proverbial Boadicea of the scythed chariot riding down those she does not favour. Karren Brady often makes LS superfluous in the Boardroom so maybe sees herself as being in training for The Apprentice top job one day. She could certainly afford it.

Indeed. It's like Misogyny 101.

Hastily edited to add: the above comment refers to general comments I've seen about her all over the place for years, not specifically to the OP.

The reason I have not criticized Nick is because I havent read about him and his career as much as the self promoting Karren. His comments are measured unlike Karrens and quite honestly she is a poor replacement for the concise Margaret.

My comments refer only to Karren as an individual person and not her gender.

Karren Brady needs a good seeing to.

[/guiltycrush]

I'm very disheartened by the mysogyny shown on DS forums generally. The sad thing is that women seem to be just as guilty of it as men, if not more.

I'm not a big fan of Karren's - she's OK, but she's not Margaret - but she is on this week's You're Fired, which I saw filmed last night. Not everything will be aired, of course, but to be fair to her she came across well and made insightful comments.

One thing worth remembering about Karren: she is used to dealing with Premiership footballers, whose egos are larger even than Apprentice candidates'.

She's always been 'board' though - former MD at Birmingham and vice-chairman at West Ham currently, I believe. I assume she might have some involvement in transfer dealings and contract negotiations (it depends how clubs divide responsibility for these things) but she hardly has to deal with footballers and their egos on a daily basis - she's not the manager or a coach.

My observation about Karren from last night is more that it was noticeable that she had the fired candidate's welfare in mind - a couple of times early on when they were struggling a bit, when they cut to VT clips Karren would always look across and give them an encouraging smile or mouth "You OK?"

I guess my point is that it that it's hard to see Sugar ever putting his metaphorical arm around a candidate, whereas Karren is a much more empathetic person than we are necessarily shown in the programme itself. I just found those little off-camera moments - which as viewers we never get to see - interesting. I came out of the studio thinking much more of her as a result.

Excellent post - people who think her book Strong Woman is an inspiration ought to remember she was born into money/connections. She also was taken under the wing of two successful businessmen - was put into Blues football club as a token gesture. Yeah sure she was meant to have done a good job - granted. Then we get the Barry Fry incident where she supposedly pulled him out of the shower at the ground and offered him a flannel to cover his bits. This is same woman who then complained about sexism! I don't like her - most of that facade on the programme is false - you try working for her and I bet it would be a completely different story. Thank goodness, there is somebody else out there who can see through all the smoke and mirrors. I have more respect for people who have started with nothing, which means NO connections or help and made a success.

Yeah we all know women can't possibly achieve anything on their own merits. It's all because if their looks and obviously because they've all given the boss a quickie.

I'm a female solicitor working in a very male-dominated environment and I am sick to the back teeth of this sexist bullshit. The worst part is that women are guilty of it too! "She only got promoted because the boss fancies her..."

Agree with all of these. It's very sad.

I have criticized Karren for the above reasons.

I worked in a male environment in the Probation Service and Yes, sexism was rife and nasty.

So then, you would want a women to do better than that, to do it on her own, confront sexism without being sexist herself. I think by not acknowleging her help up the managerial ladder she is not better than men, maybe not by sexism but by accepting the flawed leg ups of the old boys networking or family connections and then let it be known she is the architect of her own success.

Sorry but I want women to be better than that or if not be honest about it.

But men get help up the managerial ladder too for the very same reasons, and where's all the criticism directed at them? She isn't claiming she's better than men, is she? She may have had help, but it seems to me that she's where she is now largely because she's good at her job. Kung Fu Meerkat's comments above reflect my feelings on this subject.