Business Lessons from The Bachelor: Every Employee Does Not Deserve a Rose

Matt James, a 28-year-old real estate broker, entrepreneur and community organization founder, is the current leading man starring in the 25th season of ABC’s hit television romance reality series, The Bachelor.  For those of you who do not know how this dramatic program works, a single bachelor begins with a pool of romantic interests from whom he is expected to select a wife.  During the course of the season, the bachelor eliminates candidates each week, eventually culminating in a marriage proposal to his final selection.

On each weekly episode, the bachelor interacts with the women and presents a rose to each woman who he wishes to remain on the show. Women who do not receive a rose are eliminated. Eliminations are based upon the bachelor’s feelings about each contestant, guided primarily by the impression made by each woman during one-on-one dates or group events during the week.

While most women are very emotional at the Rose Ceremony – especially those who are not selected to stay another week – there’s a collective sense that the Bachelor is making decisions that are best for him and is only keeping women there who he still believes are a good fit.  Basically, everyone understands that some women are a good fit for the bachelor and others are not, and it’s best for the ones who are not to simply go home.  No harm, no foul – no one did anything wrong, it’s just not a match.  And that’s OK.

What does this have to do with business?  Everything.  I contend that if businesses managed their people like the process on The Bachelor, more employees would be engaged and more businesses would turn a profit.  However, instead of eliminating people who are not a good fit, many leaders allow these employees to stay, which is an incredible disservice to the employees who are a good fit and to the culture.

 Jill, What Can I Do?  If you want your company to have an amazing culture and soar, you must get the right person in every chair.  Employees who do not earn their chair every day need to be developed and if they fail their development plan, they need to be held accountable and terminated.  Trust me – these people will not end up jobless and homeless.  There are millions of organizations in our world with low standards that will hire them.  Channel The Bachelor, my friends.