The truth is out.
Celebrity business TV shows are not helpful to people who actually run businesses.
More than six out of ten respondents in the Better Business Survey felt that the shows (Apprentice, Dragons’ Den etc) were not helpful or inspirational.
Less than one in twenty (that’s less than 5%) claimed that they were very helpful, but a third did believe that they had provided some help and inspiration after viewing them.(Better Business Oct/Nov 2010)
Are we surprised? Of course not.
Most TV business shows are exactly that. They are shows. Like Big Brother or X-Factor they are designed to entertain and attract viewers. They are not designed to, and they do not honestly claim to, replicate reality. They are simply combining the reality show formula (embarrass people stupid enough to want their 15 minutes of fame) with ‘business’ and an exquisite new programming franchise is created.
I do not dispute that the programmes can be great entertainment as we watch the wannabes attempt to impress the celebrities but we get no real insight into the business side of things.
The programmes would be very dull television without some tension and without a few people making utter fools of themselves. So, the TV companies select candidates that will make great television. And that’s exactly what is created: great television.
I squirm when I meet people whose business education comprises of trying to behave like Lord Sugar (“you’re fired” etc) while willingly trying to sell 30% of their business for a paltry sum that they should have been able to get from a decent angel investor.
Meanwhile, the programmes present a distorted view of what it is to run your own business. Few businesses are set up to take on venture capital type funding à la Dragons’ Den; poor, often needy, wannabes are fed like lambs to the slaughter.
Often humiliated - remember the man with the sweaty armpits and the stutter - the candidates believe that the PR from DD will be enough to catapult their business into the stratosphere.
Sometimes it does. But not always.
I openly admit that I watch too much TV and that I will watch most business TV shows but we should recognise them for what they are: good TV with occasional glimpses and insights that may help us make sense of the businesses that we run.
However, for business education or inspiration, the research says that we need to look elsewhere.
RELEVANT LINKS
Survey shows business owners prefer BBC and local papers for business news and current affairs
22 comments:
"Celeberity TV shows" stink. End of.
Rob S
Yeah - they don't do it for me. Great telly but heloful to my biz? No.
Paul
What the celebrities have done is bring the plight and adventure of entrepreneurs to the public eye. It may have been misunderstood but at least it is now in the public eye.
Just like i'm a celebrity etc, everyone recognises that it is just telly. It has got kids interested and curious and that has to be a good thing.
Too bloody right. Especially in Global Enterprise Week which they just see as a big PR stunt to promote their own business model.
Cassetteboy vs Dragons' Den
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhEQLdCrmiw&feature=player_embedded
Neat
I would be ashamed to be associated with either DD or Apprentice, the mcdonalds of TV.
Nothing of any value to add.
I still love it all
No-one in the corporate world could take Apprentice or DD even vaguely seriously
it's entertainment - to some people :) Others hate it. That's their choice.
The one thing they are not is anything to do with running a business.
Fun but trash
No mention of secret millionaire.
Ling from Lings Cars managed to get some mileage out of DD but she is one of the few savvy people to have gone on the programme.
all naff
Too bloody right.
I’m increasingly drawn to Robert Craven’s excellent writing on entrepreneurship. In this blog entry he quite rightly highlights the role of the entrepreneurs we hear little about - what he calls the Everyday Entrepreneurs.
I like this description, and also the use of the 10,000 hour rule. I first came across this rule when chatting to a tennis coach. His view was that a young tennis player needs to hit a particular shot correctly at least 10,000 times before it enters the brain’s muscle memory and he/she can play it from instinct. The same concept is applied to entrepreneurs. You need to invest at least 10,000 hours in a new business venture to give it a decent chance of success. That’s about 3-5 years, assuming that an entrepreneur works the 75-80 hour weeks that are common for someone starting a business.
I like these two quotes from Robert Craven which sum things up nicely:
“Most people are not “geniuses” who have one great idea. They are born and brought up in a certain way, and then they work really hard to create new opportunities for themselves.”, and
“For every one Branson, there are (tens of) thousands of bright, knowledgeable, hard working, hard pressed people running their own businesses the best they can – and making a pretty damn good job of it.”
http://tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/comments/celebrating-the-everyday-entrepreneurs/
I’m increasingly drawn to Robert Craven’s excellent writing on entrepreneurship. In this blog entry he quite rightly highlights the role of the entrepreneurs we hear little about - what he calls the Everyday Entrepreneurs.
I like this description, and also the use of the 10,000 hour rule. I first came across this rule when chatting to a tennis coach. His view was that a young tennis player needs to hit a particular shot correctly at least 10,000 times before it enters the brain’s muscle memory and he/she can play it from instinct. The same concept is applied to entrepreneurs. You need to invest at least 10,000 hours in a new business venture to give it a decent chance of success. That’s about 3-5 years, assuming that an entrepreneur works the 75-80 hour weeks that are common for someone starting a business.
I like these two quotes from Robert Craven which sum things up nicely:
“Most people are not “geniuses” who have one great idea. They are born and brought up in a certain way, and then they work really hard to create new opportunities for themselves.”, and
“For every one Branson, there are (tens of) thousands of bright, knowledgeable, hard working, hard pressed people running their own businesses the best they can – and making a pretty damn good job of it.”
http://tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/business-studies/comments/celebrating-the-everyday-entrepreneurs/
all naff
No mention of secret millionaire.
Fun but trash
TV entrepreneurs encouraging start-ups: ... http://bit.ly/f7LeYS - totally contradictory!!!
TV entrepreneurs encouraging start-ups: ... http://bit.ly/f7LeYS OR viewers left uninspired by E/Ps http://bit.ly/foTbpx which is it?
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