Randal, 34, is the founder, president and CEO of his fifth venture "BCT Partners," a multi-million dollar management, technology and policy consulting firm based in Newark, N.J., that works with corporations, government agencies, philanthropic and nonprofit organizations. Born in Philadelphia and raised in Hightstown, N.J., he holds five academic degrees in engineering, business and technology including a B.S. from Rutgers University, an M.S. from the University of Oxford in England as a Rhodes Scholar, and an M.S., M.B.A. and Ph.D. from MIT. A former college championship track and field athlete, he has received numerous awards for his accomplishments as an entrepreneur and technologist including the National Society of Black Engineers "National Member of the Year." A Leadership New Jersey Fellow and Next Generation Leadership Fellow, Randal has been featured by Black Enterprise magazine and Ebony magazine in their "30 Leaders of the Future" issue. He is a proud member of First Baptist Church in Somerset, N.J., where he resides and is happily married to his wife Zahara.
This thing is his to lose, hands down. Rebecca will give him a real test but as long as Randal plays solid and doesn't F it all up, he will be The Apprentice.
HECK said this in post #2 : This thing is his to lose, hands down. Rebecca will give him a real test but as long as Randal plays solid and doesn't F it all up, he will be The Apprentice.
-HECK!
Agreed. But I remember Randal saying that he didnt have a plan B...and it rains on him...uh oh!
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
Yeah, but he didn't seem in panic mode. He can think on his feet, plus I am assuming they are brining back fired candidates to help. Hopefully he has a good team.
Im devastated by what I saw tonight....I hate the thought of Randal losing this job to Rebecca. She is good, but nearly as good as he has been throughout this process.
One screwup is all it takes, and the people dont seem impressed by him.
Of course thats just my opinion....I could be wrong. (Dennis Miller)
"You might be the toughest little whacker. . .but in my world, you're about as worrisome as a cloudy day." (Dutch Dooley)
Every time you think about this now, youre going to hear that in your head...
BAMMMMMM....
When you drive to work tomorrow and you successfully cut in front of the coffee drive thru line.. youll think BAMMMMMMMM ... When youre out shopping and you get the last of the product you wanted right before someone else was about to get it...... BAMMMMMMMMM Every time we watch a repeat of the show or the video on the Yahoo site... all youll be thinkin of is BAMMMMMMMMMMM
And everytime Lois gets ask "How does it feel....."?? All shell be thinking of is
BAMMMMMMMMMMMMM
And every time Alla sees a golden pole, shell be thinking .......BAMMMMMMMMMM i shouldve worn a shorter skirt...
Q&A With The Apprentice
Dr. Randal Pinkett speaks about becoming Donald Trump's apprentice and his decision not to share his limelight
By Philana Patterson
1. BE: You have a great background; are a successful businessman. Why would you want to become Donald Trump's next apprentice?
PINKETT: It's really simple. I run a multimillion-dollar consulting firm BCT Partners and I want to learn how to run a multibillion-dollar company. Needless to say there aren't a lot of billionaires out there. Who better than Mr. Trump, who has run multiple successful business ventures and is a multibillionaire, who better to learn from than him.
2. BE: When you were chosen to be a part of this cast, what was your reaction?
PINKETT: I was extremely excited when I was selected to be a part of the cast. They had a million applicants for this season of The Apprentice. It was a very competitive process. At each stage I felt as though I did the best I could to position myself to get to the next stage. It was a pretty lengthy selection process. By the time I made it to the end and I was one of the 18—that was an accomplishment in itself. I was extremely excited because I knew win or lose that it was going to open up a new realm of opportunity and possibilities for me.
3. BE: How do you expect the experience of the show and all of the different tasks that you had to perform to change you as a businessperson?
PINKETT: I've certainly been challenged in new ways by the tasks. I run a management, information and technology, and policy consulting firm so it's in a particular niche or industry or industries where I spend my day-to-day. It's not common for me to develop a commercial or figure how to get people to call an 800 number to order perfume or develop an advertising campaign for Lamborghini. So the tasks have challenged me to stretch myself in new ways and to learn new things that aren't my area of expertise, but I feel as though I performed extremely well despite the fact that I may not be trained in many of the skills required to be successful in the task. For me to have an undefeated record as a project manager in light of the fact that every task is invariably in new and different areas speaks to the diversity of my skills as a businessperson.
4. BE: It seemed like you got along with your cast mates pretty well. Was your relationship with the rest of the cast as good as it appeared to be?
PINKETT: Yes it was. One of the ways I distinguished myself on the show, despite the diversity of personalities and backgrounds and experiences of the cast, was because generally I was able to get along with everyone. More importantly, I earned the respect of everyone on the cast as a businessperson and as a human being. I had few minor run-ins with a few specific individuals, but by-and-large I had a very good working relationship with everyone on the cast.
5. BE: After the season with Kwame and Omarosa there was a lot of debate about black women not being supportive of black men. Did you take any special precautions in dealing with Marshawn, a fellow African American candidate competing for the job? Did you go into the competition with anything in mind to avoid having any issues?
PINKETT: I was really proud to work with Marshawn and really proud of how she represented black America on The Apprentice. I think we were both very conscious and very mindful of the fact that the viewing audience had witnessed the experience of Kwame and Omarosa and the ways in which she undermined his success in the final task and arguably cost him the victory.
I don't know that Marshawn and I had a specific conversation about it, but you could tell that we both were on the same wavelength-we're here to act with dignity and act with honor and to work in a way that represents each other and black America very well. I was very pleased to bring her back for the last task. I thought it would speak volumes for her and for me and our working relationship that she would be able to support me and that I would be able to work with her successfully.
6. BE: Is there anything that you wish you might have done differently on the show?
PINKETT: I think that for the occasions when I was in the boardroom I think I could have argued my case far more effectively. When I did end up in the boardroom, which was only three times out of the entire 13-week interview process, I could have argued my case more forcefully on the XM Radio task where I made a typographical error and I was put under what I thought was exaggerated scrutiny. It had nothing to do with why we lost the task.
7. BE: What from the show are you most proud of?
PINKETT: I think the thing I am most proud of is that I was an effective leader. An effective leader certainly gets results but also inspires commitment and gets results out of others. On every task where I was project manager the tasks were well organized, we won the task, and people not only respected me, but they admired me for my abilities as a leader. I think there were others - even though they won they didn't earn the admiration or respect of their peers so when the vote came down for which project managers should have been given exemptions-Markus didn't get an exemption during week one. He won the task, but he didn't get an exemption. Clay was 2-0 when he won the Star Wars task, but his team didn't give him an exemption. It's not just getting results its proving yourself to be an effective, respected, and admired leader and I think I showed that consistently throughout the season and every time that a team had a chance to draft somebody from the opposing team, I was the one they picked.
8. BE: How difficult is it to work with people and motivate people who are competing against you?
PINKETT: Without tooting my own horn, I feel like many people take for granted that so many people in the cast were on my side, liked me and believed that I was a strong leader. At the end of the day we were all there as adversaries. All 18 of us were there to stab each other in the back and cut each others throats and scratch and crawl our way into the final two. That's a great question. How in the world do you navigate those murky waters and emerge with respect and admiration and respect of those that you work with? You could easily step on people and walk over them and back stab them and still get there, but I think it has something to do with acting with integrity and treating people with respect even when they might not be inclined to treat you that way. Ultimately, if you keep your integrity and remain true to those principles, if people don't come around that says more about them than it does about you.
9. BE: In episode 10 when your team, Excel, beat Capital Edge to Radio Shack to get the megaphones, (Randal's team found out that Capital Edge planned to buy megaphones to complete the task), there were some people who said it was a great competitive strategy and then there were some people who were uneasy with the strategy and thought it might even be a little unethical to make a move like that. What made you decide to do that and what's your response to people who might be uneasy with that decision?
PINKETT: I've gotten a lot of e-mails and phone calls about that move. On one hand, I was at a point where my competence was being questioned coming off the XM Radio task so I was very focused on re-establishing myself as the strongest candidate and the front-runner and I stepped up as project manager and I wanted to get the win. My competitive spirit really drove me that episode to do whatever it was I had to do to win the task. In this instance, if I had to do it again, I might have had second thoughts about taking the megaphones. I think we could have still beaten them if they had had the megaphones and that would have spoken stronger volumes about my ability as a leader.
10. BE: Now that there has been some backlash from the White community about you denying Rebecca the opportunity to join you at the Trump organization, do you have any regrets on that decision?
PINKETT: I'm satisfied with the decision I made and I'm pleased with the arguments I presented. As I said last night, 'in a competition there is only one winner.' You wouldn't ask the gold medalist in the Olympics to share with the silver medalist. Unfortunately for those that wanted to see a double hiring or see Rebecca win, I ended up being the bearer of bad news. However, at the end of day all I did was give Mr. Trump my recommendation. It was ultimately his decision to not hire Rebecca.
09-10-2005 09:24 PM
