C.A. for Episode 1: Welcome to 'reality'

Strange as it may sound, I do not watch television programmes and have been that way for the past six or more years. When I shared this tiny bit of information about myself with the rest of my team mates in Team Equity, I think I could hear them thinking aloud: "Weirdo". The people behind The Firm: Season 2 didn’t think aloud, they voiced it out verbally.

Anyway, I joined The Firm: Season 2 without watching The Firm: Season 1 and since I haven’t watched any of the reality shows before, I did not have any inkling on what to expect. Either I am a nut or I do not understand the meaning of fear. What prompted me to join The Firm: Season 2 was the advertisement that came out in The Star that says ,"Do you have what it takes to be the nation’s top executive?" or something along the lines and I thought to myself that maybe I can learn from the people who groom top executives about running a company.

In Episode 1, since Anoop shared with the team that he has a few years of experience in the F&B industry, I was agreeable that he was the best candidate to lead the team for this task. Anoop was effective in getting the team to contribute their respective ideas during the brainstorming session; yours truly suggested a possible angle to try out a charity approach which was immediately shot down by Dian. She has her valid reasons for shooting down my idea but I thought that she could have shot it down in a different way because the impression that I had of her was nothing short of a hostile person. As I got to know Dian better, I am happy to share that she is not a hostile person.

I could be wrong but during brainstorming session, Dian did mention that if the team lost because we adopted her ideas, she would volunteer herself to be terminated. I felt that it was pointless to argue because time was against us thus I felt that we should just adopt an idea and work from there. I did mention during brainstorming session instead of competing against ourselves, we should be working together to compete against Team Asset because I believed that it would have been difficult to move forward if we continued to argue on whose idea was the best.

Based on a tight deadline, an even tighter budget and the brief by C. Club, Team Equity’s strategy to win was deceptively simple: to delight customers by providing excellent service. To execute this strategy effectively, Team Equity implemented the following tactics:
1. Go-out-to-the-customers; that is to dress as chefs to draw traffic in to C. Club.
2. Buy one adult set lunch and be entitled to a complimentary child’s set lunch thus effectively targeting families who may (or may not) be concerned on affordability.
3. Diamond tour for interested diners – targeting wives or girlfriends.
4. Meet the chef behind the diamonds – making it more personalized as diners may want to learn from the chef how to prepare the dishes.
5. Body jewelry for children – ensuring that the children remain entertained.
6. Photo memento and C. Club catalogue for all diners irrespective of the menu they order – for diners to remember C. Club and to 'show-off' to their friends.

We were convinced that we would win based on the above strategy and the tactics. Team Equity lost because we neglected to weigh in the following factors:
1. Anoop’s gout affecting his judgement (gout may not have clouded his decision making process).




In the boardroom, lasted like an eternity to me, I was shocked to hear so many negative feedback about Anoopflying around from the rest of Team Equity. I actually felt sorry for him thus I decided not to press on with a few questions that I initially wanted to ask him. The footage shown in Episode 1 featuring me sharing my points during the boardroom was but a snippet of what actually transpired.

I remained silent in the boardroom while the focus remained on Anoop for a good 20 to 30 minutes. Out of the blue, I was asked who should be terminated. Without hesitation, I answered: "Me".