By Jamie Turner, Chief Content Officer, The 60 Second Marketer

 

 

 

 

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. And if you don't already know about him through Ogilvy & Mather, then you might have come across 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

in my youth and had a number of fascinating conversations with him before he passed away. (I recall one conversation with him where he asked, "Am I boring you?" Imagine.)

The most riveting story I know about David Ogilvy took place after he had retired to Touffou, his chateau in France. It's such an important story and provides such excellent insight into David 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 Ogilvy 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.

In fact, the agency was so dominant, I understand 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.

By this time, the Chairman of the Board was another brilliant gentleman named Jock Elliott. David was still involved in Ogilvy & Mather and he still had the power to hire and fire, but the Chairmanship had been turned over to Mr. Elliott.

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 know that this kind of thing happens more often than we'd like to admit. But it was the kind of thing that David Ogilvy hated because it wasn't transparent. Mr. Ogilvy believed that office politics were best left for other companies, not Ogilvy & Mather.

Apparently, the person who had secretly lined up the votes approached Mr. Ogilvy shortly before the board meeting to tell him what he had done. If all went as planned, this person would effectively perform a board coup when the meeting started in a few hours.

It was the kind of politics that Mr. Ogilvy hated. And the kind of politics that he would simply not stand for.

After Mr. Ogilvy listened to this person's plans, he sat back and said one thing to him. But one thing was all he needed to say. "You may have enough votes to become the Chairman of the Board," Mr. Ogilvy said. "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 who was also a good friend of his. It's an incredible story because, in a few short words, it illustrates the brilliance of David Ogilvy.

I've heard this story passed down for more than 20 years and it was recently corroborated by another source.

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.

 

Author Bio:

Jamie Turner is the co-author of How to Make Money with Social Media and has spent more than 25 years helping companies like Coca-Cola, AT&T, Cartoon Network and CNN grow their sales and revenue. He is an in demand keynote speaker at trade shows, events and corporations around the globe and is also the Founder and Chief Content Officer of the 60 Second Marketer.

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