About Kwame's Brother Joe

But in "Suite Success," a well-wrought variation on the much-written-about theme of the power of positive thinking, psychologist Liza Siegel makes it abundantly clear that there was no call to shed any tears for that reality TV show contestant when he came in second in the finals of the first season of "The Apprentice."

Siegel points out that after Donald Trump hired another contestant, billionaire Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban waited for hours at Jackson’s after-show party to make a job offer to the fired contestant and that Goldman Sachs, Jackson’s former employer, also offered him a substantial salary to come back.

"Although he ‘lost’ the apprenticeship, Kwame has become one of reality television’s most sought-after public speakers. He addresses both college students and Fortune 500 company executives, the latter including those from American Express, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, and General Electric," Siegel writes.

The author is a consulting psychologist for both "The Apprentice" and "Survivor" reality TV shows. But all the reality show profiles she uses to underscore her observations and recommendations in this book are of "The Apprentice" candidates. And, although most of them, such as Jackson, were fired at some point in their seasons, none was a loser. Of Jackson, she writes further:

"Most recently, Kwame was honored as the first African-American guest speaker sponsored by the London School of Economics Students’ Union Business Society at the prestigious London School of Economics and Political Science. He has a $3.8 billion real estate deal in the works, a company called Legacy Holdings, and lifetime bragging rights to having survived ten boardrooms in the very first season of a show that will certainly leave an indelible mark on popular culture."

Siegel cites Jackson as a personification of the idea that treating people decently matters in both business and social life. Another word for that is "resonance" - a quality that enables a leader to bring out the best in each team member based upon the member’s goals, values and priorities.

Jackson, of course, had more than resonance. He exhibited all the positive characteristics that Siegel lists as essential to successful entrepreneurship and leadership. Those other essential qualities cited by Siegel are optimism, creativity, resilience, self-control, passion, emotional awareness and sociability. Other fired and hired contestants are used to illustrate those attributes. Siegel emphasizes that all the contestants on "The Apprentice" are winners. They had to be to be chosen to compete for the honor of serving under Trump. Most of them are already successful entrepreneurs or up-and-coming corporate executives.

As consulting psychologist, Siegel’s job is to interview scores of potential contestants who are picked from thousands of wannabes who submit their résumés to participate in the show. She helps determine who makes the final cut. Those who ultimately get the opportunity to be hired or fired by Trump are, as Siegel portrays them, extroverted poster children for the power of positive thinking.

They are the kind of people who readily bounce back from setbacks. Nevertheless, another part of Siegel’s job is to counsel some of the contestants after they are fired.

The title of the book derives from the way contestants were fired from the show before Trump came up with his now-famous - or infamous - "you’re fired" tagline. Trump directed contestants either to the elevator that went up to the executive suite or the one that took them down to the street.

Siegel reprises in layman’s terms most of the current developments in positive psychology, which she says "addresses the positive emotions and qualities that propel us forward and add richness to our living."

Therapists, she says, concerned themselves by and large for many decades with relieving the suffering of people who had mental illness. Self-help books, she says, mainly issued advice on easing the mentally ill and their families.

In contrast, "Suite Success" offers guidance for transforming psychological and circumstantial problems into benefits and for developing or enhancing those personal qualities that spell success.

Even people who don’t care much for reality TV - or Trump, for that matter - might find reading Siegel’s reality TV-spiced spin on the efficacy of optimism a positive experience.

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Note from the Webdude:::

ahem - the title for this article is wrong, never ever did Donald Trump say "You're Fired" to Kwame Jackson.