Around the world, business related reality TV series are regularly among the most popular shows on their respective networks. From The Apprentice to Dragon’s Den and all of its variants, and everything in between, these shows are loved by many. The main reason for this tends to be because they’re seen to be making business more accessible and understandable to the masses. People who would never read The Economist or typically scoot quickly through the business pages in their daily newspaper can connect with industries and realise that it isn’t all that difficult.
However, there are a number of problems with these televisions shows, and we’ve identified three of the biggest ones here.
All about the Celebrity
By far the biggest problem is that these television shows do a poor job of being a façade to what seems like the ultimate goal, which is using them as a personal branding tool for the people that are on
there.
In fairness, shows like Dragon’s Den are not too bad in this respect, at least in terms of the people who appear on the show with an idea. The businesspeople on the show often shamefully cash in and don’t even present themselves as serious businesspeople, because it’s all carefully staged for television! It’s a shame, because serious financial minds like James Caan do a good job, but they’re upstaged by the pantomime acts around them.
The Apprentice sometimes appears to be little more than a vehicle for getting a magazine deal or an appearance on other television programming at the end of the series.
Perhaps it’s time to revisit these shows and get other notable individuals from the finance industry on them, such as Alok Oberoi or even advisors like Dave Ramsey.
They’re Not Representative
The only thing worse than the people who appear on these shows are the people that watch them and believe that the world of business is really like that.
Seriously, would some of the people who appear on The Apprentice
Many people look at these television shows and update social media saying things like “if this is the best we’ve got, we’re doomed,” and they’re not wrong!really be as successful as they claim to be if they behaved in the manner they do on television all of the time. Say what you like about “the way the shows are edited,” but if such behaviour didn’t happen then the “stars of the show” wouldn’t have anything cringe-worthy to include!
Real World Perspectives are Missing
If a company like ACPI Investments were considering making an investment into an industry, it is unlikely that one person would make a decision based on what they’ve seen or are told by a lackey. Yes, so there are examples of when business plans are shown or what happens when things go wrong, but these are few and far between, when in the real world it happens all the time.
Instead of manipulating the business world for television, surely it’d be better to ensure the real world is represented accurately?
e: Danny Addams is a business consultant who gets infuriated by the number of companies he visits who appear to be using business based television shows as their role models. Ironically, Danny is actually a fan of such shows, although not because they are an accurate picture of the business world.
Danny Addams is a business consultant who gets infuriated by the number of companies he visits who appear to be using business based television shows as their role models. Ironically, Danny is actually a fan of such shows, although not because they are an accurate picture of the business world.
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