ogilvy on leadership

Leadership Lessons from David Ogilvy Excerpted from ʻThe King Of Madison Avenueʼ by Kenneth Roman

18

On principles (borrowed from J.P. Morgan)

“Our policy is only first-class business, and that in a first-class way.”

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On professional standards

“Top men must not tolerate sloppy plans or mediocre work.”



On setting lofty goals

“Raise your sights. Blaze new trails. Compete with the immortals.”



On knowledge

“Suppose, your gall-bladder has to be removed this evening. Will you choose a surgeon who has read some books on anatomy and knows where to find your gall-bladder, or a surgeon who relies on his intuition?”



On focus in an organization “If we are to prevent the eventual disintegration of our world-wide church into a Tower of Babel, we must continue our evangelism, make sure that every office is headed by a member of the True Church, and not by a stranger and, never again entrust the supervision of offices to outsiders or lay brothers. This errors leads to schism, balkanization, apostasy, bankruptcy and ultimate disintegration.”



On size in an organization

“If God is on the side of the big battalions, and that seems to be the case, the path of wisdom lies in becoming one of the big battalions.”



On committees

“Search the parks in all your cities, Youʼll find no statues of committees.”



On mergers

“Clients never like mergers. They hate them. They donʼt like their accounts being sold. I donʼt blame them. If my doctor said he had sold his patients to another doctor, whom I had never met and must consult for all future health care, I wouldnʼt jump up and down with joy.” 8

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On acquisitions

“Finance aside, I have always thought [acquisitions] a rickety way to grow. Good agencies are never for sale.”



On hiring

“If you hire people who are smaller than you are, we shall become a company of dwarfs. If you hire people who are bigger than you, we shall become a company of giants. Hire Big People, people who are better than you. Pay them more than you pay yourself, if necessary.”



On meritocracy

“No spouses. No nepots ”



On corporate culture

“We treat our people like human beings. We help them when they are in trouble. We help our people make the best of their talents. Our system of management is singularly democratic. We abhor ruthlessness. We like people with gentle manners. We admire people who work hard. We despise and detest office politicians, toadies, bullies and pompous asses. The way up the ladder is open to everybody. In promoting people to top jobs, we are as influenced as much by their character as by anything else.”



On minimizing office politics

“Sack incurable politicians. Crusade against paper warfare.”



On compensation

“Pay peanuts and you get monkeys.”



On checking expense accounts

“Even the Pope has a Confessor.”



On firing people

“I think the most cruel thing you can do to people, especially I am sad to say, to men, is to fire them, to put them in a situation where they donʼt work. Always do your damndest to avoid condemning people to the hell of unemployment.”



On losing clients

“Clients come, they go, they come back, weʼll get a new one. The only thing that can affect who we are as a company is if [the Chairman] feels any less committed.”



On clear and honest writing

“People who think well, write well. Woolly-minded people write woolly memos, woolly letters and woolly speeches. I believe in the dogmatism of brevity.”



Leadership Lessons from David Ogilvy Excerpted from ʻThe King Of Madison Avenueʼ by Kenneth Roman

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