Jeff Probst Is A Management Guru?

One usually doesn't think of Jeff Probst, host of the CBS reality show Survivor, in the same context as Tom Peters, Jim Collins, and Oren Harari. Yet on tonight's telecast of epsode 2 Jeff was insightful and outspoken.

As the Morgan tribe sat in tribal council for the second straight time, having lost all four of the competitions (challenges against the Drake tribe), Jeff probed for a reason. When no one would own up to anything other than sleep deprivation, Probst bluntly asked Andrew, the supposed leader of the tribe, to explain his failure to lead.

Probst pointed out that the the location where this season's competition takes place, the Pearl Islands off Panama, is an old pirate hangout with a reputation for "disposing" of leaders who couldn't solve problems.

Since taking, or being given, the leader title has been the kiss of death in the six previous seasons of this show it is surprising that Andrew has played the role so openly. He personally selected which tribe member should be cast out in the two votes. Yet his tribe has only basic essentials (food, shelter, warmth), lacks purpose or direction, is clearly unable to compete against the other tribe, and has rapidly falling morale.

When Probst asked, "when is this (the sleep problem) going to be resolved", Andrew answered quickly and emphatically "Tomorrow. Tomorrow the first thing we do is fix the floor (of the sleep shelter)." If it isn't, I suspect Andrews days as a member of the tribe, let alone as its leader, may be numbered.

To read more about Leadership, see my Leadership Resources.

To read more about Survivor 7, see Elizabeth Larkin's Survivor Pearl Islands, Panama