Lesson #5: Tend to Your Team to Create a Company of Giants
Lesson #5: Tend to Your Team to Create 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.
Lesson 5 Tend to Your Team to Create a Company of Giants
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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.
Lesson 5 Tend to Your Team to Create a Company of Giants
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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