I'm Giving Up Sugar
On Friday afternoon I got the chance to be Sir Alan Sugar. Sadly, this did not involve riding in a Rolls-Royce or buying a football club. All I had to do was sit in a room looking suitably sour-faced as five different production teams pitched me their ideas for a live music event. I wasn't allowed to smile or offer words of encouragement. No, my role was very simple: I had to find fault.
"So let me get this straight", I said to one enthusiastic producer, "you want a Radio Scotland helicopter flying from one event to another. So what happens if it's foggy?"
Then there was the trembling researcher who suggested we clear the Saturday afternoon schedule for a mobile concert on an open-top bus. All I could think of was the thousands of football fans tuning in for SPL commentary.
Now, I have to confess, I did start to enjoy myself a little too much. I was shaking my head a lot and staring at people like they just sprouted antlers. Yet, the reality of the creative culture at the ´óÏó´«Ã½ is that we spend a lot of time listening to ideas and suggesting, in a positive way, how they could be improved. But now and again you don't have the energy for that and it would be the easiest thing in the world to rubbish every half-baked idea and tell the person proposing it that they should consider a career change. In fact, and this is true, I have a recurring dream where I do exactly that and I always wake up feeling guilty.
My Alan Sugar finale came at the end of a day in which our music teams in Glasgow and Aberdeen came together to discuss the future of live music events. There were some practical discussions about health and safety, some ideas about how to promote and brand the events and then a brainstorming session for new ideas. That's where I came in. I got to choose the best out of five ideas and hand over a box of chocolates to the winning team. A bit of fun.
Personally I don't believe this kind of macho, ultra-negative approach achieves anything. It reminds me of they way I used to conduct job-interviews. I would peruse a candidate's application form, looking for errors or statements to be challenged. During the interview itself I would pick away at the unfortunate applicant's ideas, testing the logic of their thinking and the confidence of their presentation. Sometimes a simple question would have a devastating impact.
"So you're telling me that you would actually put this idea on the air?"
"Er...well...not exactly..."
"So you don't think it's a good idea then?"
"Well yes...I mean...no..."
So what did any of this tell me about the person's suitability for the job? Almost nothing. Mainly it allowed me to find out which candidate was good at job interviews, but that's about all.
In recent years, I've changed my approach. A few days observing the candidate in real work-experience conditions tells you so much more about his or her abilities. I prefer almost any other method of selection to the standard interview panel. And if there is to be an interview I prefer to give the candidates advance warning of the questions so they can prepare meaningful answers based on their experience.
As for Sir Alan Sugar. Well, I still like the big chair and the big car, but that's about it.
Frankly, I prefer to sleep at night.
