Neil's shown to be much more competent than David, in pretty much all aspects, so why did the board vote 5-2 in David's favour to be Jennifer's successor?
"Don't cry, it is to be. In time, I'll take away your miseries and make 'em mine. D'Evils."
Funny thing is I watched this episode for the first time in years last night and thought the exact same thing. Guessing that he knew some board members personally when Neil might not have known them, or David had probably been in the company much longer.
shareI'm sure you've heard the old adage "it's who you know, not what you know" that counts in business. It could've been good old-fashioned nepotism that won him the vote. David appeared to be well connected within Wernham Hogg, due in part to his overriding need to be everybody's mate.
David was supposed to be a somewhat competent manager before the documentary. He won 'UK Manager of the Month' and must have been doing something right to keep a managerial role for all those years. However, once the cameras showed up, he revelled in the limelight and let his fifteen minutes of fame compromise his job.
Also, Neil was younger and more of a go-getter than David, the board might have felt that David was a safer bet in the long run.
I've wondered this too...it's a leap of faith you need to make, because so much depends on that premise. I had trouble reconciling that, though :)
One thing I like about the US version is that as bumbling and incompetent as Michael Scott is most of the time, there were moments that showed him in his element - creating relationships with potential customers - that reminded the viewer that he was actually a very capable salesman who'd happened to be promoted well beyond his abilities. I didn't really get that from David Brent, aside from that shot of him demonstrating the cleaning cloth on a sales call. We don't really get to see him shine in any way.
But yeah, that scene of him on his hotel room bed, drunk and babbling about how Neil was going to be an utter catastrophe and how the company was going to beg him to come back, all I could think of was "Why would they possibly want you back?"
Because what you saw was a stitch up, they took the good bits out.
shareThis is occasionally addressed in the US version. The office has strong staff that produce good numbers and the manager gets the credit for that.
share