A few days ago, a good friend of mine named Alison Rinner directed my attention to a Wall Street Journal article entitled “What Real ‘Mad Men’ Did, and Didn’t Do.” It was a recap of what really happened on Madison Avenue during the 1950s and 1960s. (The bottom line — most of what is portrayed in the TV series Mad Men really did happen.)
The article in the Wall Street Journal reminded me of a post I wrote a few months ago about David Ogilvy, the founder of Ogilvy & Mather. Most people know David as a brilliant advertising man. But what they don’t know is that he was also a brilliant manager of people.
Here’s the post I wrote several months ago. If you’re interested in finding out what made David such a brilliant manager of people, read on:
“I’m a very lucky guy. When I was growing up, my father worked side-by-side with one of the greatest marketing minds of the 20th century.
I’m talking about David Ogilvy. If you don’t already know about him through Ogilvy & Mather, then you might have read about him in one of your marketing textbooks or in his profile in the book Forbes: The Greatest Business Stories of All Time.
I was fortunate to have been in the presence of Mr. Ogilvy many times and had a number of fascinating conversations with him before he passed away. (I recall one conversation where he asked me, “Am I boring you?” Imagine!)
The most riveting story I know about David took place after he had retired to Touffou, his chateau in France. It’s such an important story and provides such excellent insight into Mr. Ogilvy that I wanted to share it with the readers of the 60 Second Marketer so that it might be etched in a 21st Century version of stone.
By the time David retired to Touffou, he had accomplished a great deal. Despite having started Ogilvy & Mather later in his life (he was nearly 40 when he founded the company), he was able to grow it into a worldwide powerhouse in less than a decade.
The agency was such a force that for seven years during the 1960s, Ogilvy & Mather never lost a new business pitch. Seven years without losing a pitch — that’s unheard of.
By the 1980s, Mr. Ogilvy was working primarily out of his chateau. He would come to New York City for important meetings with clients as well as for Ogilvy & Mather Board meetings. He still had the power to hire and fire, but the Chairmanship had been turned over to Jock Elliott, another brilliant member of the Ogilvy & Mather team.
As the story goes, prior to one important board meeting, a high-ranking member of the Ogilvy & Mather Board of Directors had decided to oust Mr. Elliott from his Chairmanship. (This could be done if a majority of board members voted in favor of a new Chairman.)
Apparently, this person had secretly gone around to several other members of the board to line up votes. He had done this behind the backs of both Mr. Ogilvy and Mr. Elliott.
Now, if you hang around corporate America long enough, you’ll find that this kind of trickery happens more often than we’d like to admit. But it was the kind of thing that Mr. Ogilvy hated because it wasn’t open and honest. He believed that office politics were best left for other companies, not Ogilvy & Mather.
As the story goes, the person who had secretly lined up the votes approached Mr. Ogilvy shortly before the board meeting to tell him what he had done. “David,” he allegedly said, “I’ve got enough votes to oust Jock Elliott from the Board of Directors.” If all went as planned, this person would effectively perform a board coup when the meeting started in a few hours.
But Mr. Ogilvy hated office politics. And he certainly wasn’t about to let them infect his esteemed agency.
After David listened to this person’s plans, he paused, leaned forward and said one thing to him. “You may have enough votes to become the Chairman of the Board, but you no longer have a job. You’re fired.”
In 21 words, David Ogilvy said more about himself and about the company he founded than an encyclopedia full of articles ever could.
“You may have enough votes to become Chairman of the Board, but you no longer have a job. You’re fired.”
I’m sharing this story because it was shared with me by my father, Mike Turner, who not only worked closely with Mr. Ogilvy, but was also a good friend of his. My intent is not to spread gossipy stories, but to share it as an illustration of how a great man did a great thing at a great company.
“You may have enough votes to become Chairman of the Board, but you no longer have a job. You’re fired.”
As I’ve gone through my career, I’ve kept track of the great business stories that have taught me something important about about life. There are some stories that are so powerful and have such clarity that they should live on forever — in the hopes that they’ll teach a younger generation how to lead a life of decency and integrity.
This is one of those stories. Please pass it on.”
Jamie Turner has spent more than 25 years helping companies like AT&T, The Coca-Cola Company, CNN, Equifax and Cartoon Network grow their sales and revenue with innovative marketing programs. He is the Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer, a free resource brought to you by BKV Digital and Direct Response. Jamie’s book, “How to Make Money with Social Media” will be published by the Financial Times Press this October.