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Lesson #5: Tend to Your Team to Create a Company of Giants
Article Overview: Every so often, Ogilvy would send each of his directors a set of Russian nesting dolls, where inside the largest doll would be a small one, and then a smaller one, and so on. In the smallest doll, he would place a piece of paper that read: “If we hire people who are smaller than we are, we will become a company of dwarfs. If we hire people who are larger than we are, we’ll become a company of giants.”
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Lesson #5: Tend to Your Team to Create a Company of Giants
Every so often, Ogilvy would send each of his directors a set of Russian nesting dolls, where inside the largest doll would be a small one, and then a smaller one, and so on. In the smallest doll, he would place a piece of paper that read: “If we hire people who are smaller than we are, we will become a company of dwarfs. If we hire people who are larger than we are, we’ll become a company of giants.”
Ogilvy understood the power of the people on his team and the importance of making the most of them in order to deliver superior service to his clients. He thus devoted an extraordinary amount of effort to ensuring they were given challenging opportunities, recognition for achievement, and maximum responsibility. “Some of our people spend their entire working lives in Ogilvy & Mather,” he said. “We try to make it a stimulating and happy experience. We put this first.”
It was one of Ogilvy’s top priorities to help make the best of his staff’s talents, investing much time and money into hiring, training, giving them maximum independence and flexibility, and avoiding management by intimidation. “We see no conflict between adherence to high professional standards in our work and human kindness in our dealings with each other,” he wrote. “We treat our people as human beings.”
Whenever a staff member at Ogilvy & Mather was experiencing personal problems, whether with illness or alcohol or something else – the agency would strive to help them. However, in return for the freedom and respect they were given, high expectations were conversely placed upon employees at Ogilvy’s firm.
“I believe in the Scottish proverb: ‘Hard work never killed a man,’” said Ogilvy. “Men die of boredom, psychological conflict and disease. They do not die of hard work.” He admired people who worked hard, were objective and thorough, and he was not afraid to lead by example. “I figure that my staff will be less reluctant to work overtime if I work longer hours than they do,” he said, noting that “agencies which frequently work nights and weekends are more stimulating, more successful – and more profitable.”
According to Ogilvy, a tight – albeit informal – ship was a happy ship. “Lazy and superficial men and women do not produce superior work.” He also claimed that the agency “had little time for: office politicians, bullies, paper warriors, toadies, pompous asses, and prima donnas.” More than anything else, Ogilvy placed supreme importance on honesty: “Honest in argument, honest with clients, honest with suppliers, honest with the company – and above all, honest with consumers.” Thus, a person’s character had as much of an impact on their being promoted as anything else.
Ogilvy wanted to create “Ogilvy & Mather – one company, indivisible.” Whether it meant hiring people with more talent than him, paying them more than him, or giving them the independence to pursue their own creativity, Ogilvy did what he could to foster a team that would take his company to the top.
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How to valuate a business
- Hi Garth - here is how we did it at Northern Crown Capital when I was helping them raise venture capital for Toronto-based entrepreneurs. Assume the start date is 2003 so 2008 projections are 5 years out:
How Northern Crown Capital Valuates a Business
2008 Financial Projections
Earnings Before Tax
$5,865,000
Tax Rate
42%
Taxes
$2,463,300
Net Earnings
$3,401,700
Amount Seeking to Raise Today
$3,500,000
Discounted Value of Future Opportunity, 5 Years Out
2008 P/E Ratio
15
Value of Company in 2008
$51,025,500
Discount Rate Applied
30%
Year 2008
$51,025,500
Year 2007
$35,717,850
Year 2006
$25,002,495
Year 2005
$17,501,747
Year 2004
$12,251,223
Value of Company at Investment in 2003
$12,251,223
Less: Investment Amount
$3,500,000
Present Value
$8,751,223
Discount for Risk & Private Company
40%
Less: Discount for Risk & Private Company
$3,500,489
Private Company Value
$5,250,734
Present Value (What the Owner Keeps)
$5,250,734
60.00%
Financing (What the Investor Gets)
$3,500,000
40.00%
Total
$8,750,734
100.00%
I hope this helps!
Re: Anyone Uses Elance.com? Guru.com? Rentacoder.com?
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I like oDesk.com 'cos I get to sort thru people (e.g. within a certain bid range) with a single click. I find their help response very quick and I like the oDesk Team software that "providers" must install. This gives me the Buyer more insight as to what I am paying for. The Team software takes screenshots of the Providers screen on 10 min increments so I can see that the person is infact doing work for me.
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Greetings from India.
I am Seeking Venture Capital for Offshore Software Company Start-up. Need advise along with Business Model Sample.
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2. Talent Team - Found Good Technology Developers.
3. Where I can get the leads/potential customers - Leads have been identified who are willing to move forward offshore projects.
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Services: Offshore Software Development Company.
Offices to be located: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India and USA.
Products/Services/Applications in areas like POS & Billing, Sales & Distribution, Production Planning, Material Management, Inventory Control, Plant Maintenance, Purchasing, Accounting and Logistics. Dynamic Web Programming with Database Driven Content Management Systems, Online Stores for E-Commerce, B2B Solutions, Community Portals, Website Redesign and Development, Custom ERP with Enterprise Wide Functional Modules such as Marketing, CRM, Accounting, Inventory Control, Sales & Distribution, Production Planning, Purchase & Stores, Logistics and Supply Chain.
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The 2008 Superbowl Thread..
- This board could be rockin' and rollin' this Sunday if we had an Off Topic folder to discuss such stuff as sports, TV, theater, etc. etc...
As a matter of fact right now we could all be online RIGHT NOW talking about the Patriots vs the Giants..
I myself am in a quandary... I want the Patriots to lose, but I don't want Eli Manning to win... and Plaxico Burress needs a reality check...
who to choose...who to choose...
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- Website: Posted a new article on my main business website and bookmarked it.
Team: Contacted new affiliates and invited them to join my training list.
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