True leaders tend to be successful at pretty much whatever’s given to them. (Philip Barnard)

In this edition of The Leadership Show, Simon Chadwick chats with four leaders who have spent the past five decades successfully building substantial entities. Folks such as Jay Wilson who built Roper Starch (sold to NOP World), Bill Pegram who co-founded and built Pegram Walters (sold to Synovate), Philip Barnard who built Research International from its founding days as a division of Unilever (sold to WPP), and Tim Bowles who built IRI Europe. This is one of the most fun podcasts to listen to thanks to Simon and his guests.

BTW, Simon wrote and presented an excellent paper at ESOMAR ‘07 for free download entitled “Leadership – The Men and Women Who Shape Our Industry”.

Listen to other podcasts in this series

 STARRING 

• Bill Pegram, Bill Pegram & Co, and gravitas
• Jay Wilson, Wilson Connexions and partner, Cambiar
• Philip Barnard, former chairman and CEO, Kantar Group
• Tim Bowles, former head, IRI Europe and former CEO, West Europe, Synovate
• Simon Chadwick, partner, Cambiar and gravitas (Host)

Timeline [35:12]
00:00 Intro.
02:08 Framework for good leadership (profit centres, giving responsibility to those who can handle it).
02:50 Encouraging entrepreneurialism (freedom to make mistakes, having a vision).
03:46 Are entrepreneurial leaders different/better than corporate leaders?
04:19 A creative excitement with the current generation of emerging agencies.
05:39 The 1970s and 1980s – the age of ‘gentleman amateurs’ (jewellery store anecdote).
07:45 Challenges in managing widespread change in the industry (change of ownership, bankruptcy).
10:00 Getting rid of ‘dead wood’.
11:34 Avoiding motivation systems that reward people equally (print department anecdote).
12:54 Being willing to challenge the conventional wisdom (pituitary glands of newts anecdote).
14:51 Filling leadership positions externally versus internally.
15:20 Thoughts on people who these leaders nurtured (Ed Keller, Nigel Spackman, Richard Silman, Michelle Norman, Barbara Martin, John Samuels).
17:36 The challenge of the american ‘can do’ attitude.
18:57 As a leader, ‘knowing what to do’ is not difficult if you listen carefully and can sell the message (IRI pricing anecdote).
20:39 Difficult moments (telephone company anecdote).
21:41 Deciding to start a company – Bill Pegram.
23:18 Resisting corporate creep (organisation chart anecdote).
23:59 Leadership heroes (Mark Abrams, Elmor Roper, Starch, Ronald Reagan, Harry Truman, Michael Vaughan, Richard Silman, Brian Goschalk, Dilbert, Philip Barnard, Doug Brown, Paddy Ashdown, Tony Blair, Eileen Cole, Stephen King, Jeremy Bullmore, Charles Darwin).
30:32 What the leaders are currently involved in (cottage building, archeology, snowshoeing).
33:17 Regrets.

Notable Mentions
Aegis.
AGB.
Alan Walters (Pegram Walters).
Art Nielsen.
Barbara Martin.
Birdsye.
Brian Goschalk (Ipsos).
Charles Darwin.
Dilbert.
Doug Brown (founder, AGB).
Ed Keller (Keller Fay Group).
Eileen Cole.
Elmo Burns Roper, Jr.
George Gallup.
Harry Truman.
INRA.
IRI.
Jack Welch.
Jeremy Bullmore (WPP).
John Betjeman.
John Samuels (ex. BMRB).
Mark Abrams.
Michelle Norman (CEO, Synovate UK).
Nigel Spackman (chairman, TNS UK).
Paddy Ashdown (former MP).
Pat Dowding (Pegram Walters).
Red Mottley.
Research Bureau.
Research International.
Richard Silman (CEO, Ipsos UK).
Ronald Reagan.
Roper Starch.
Simon Chadwick.
Stephen King (ex. WPP).
Synovate.
Tony Blair.
Trevor Richards.
Unilever.

Quotes
“I felt strongly that the key people in our company had to be entrepreneurial” (Jay Wilson).

“I think it’s as important to find the really high quality people you want in your business who don’t have leadership ambitions, and to nurture them…as it is to spot the leaders sometimes.” (Philip Barnard).

Thanks to freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones for the outro

Music 
Steffen Coonan and Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Leadership

 My senior management team, I made sure that they could do stages 1 (turnaround) and 2 (growth), with a real emphasis on delivering 2.

Sponsored by 
Meet Kimberly Till, head honcho at TNS North America. And by “meet” we mean this is the first chance to really get to know her and her passion.

Anyway, back in May 2006, Kimberly accepted the challenge of turning around the troubled North American operations of TNS, the world’s #2 MR firm. She took on this challenge despite lucrative offers from internet startups after a career at Microsoft and in media and entertainment. Listen on to find out how the turnaround is going, how she approaches leadership, and how she intends to inject a much-needed spirit of entrepreneurism into TNS NA

Listen to other podcasts in this series

 STARRING 

• Kimberly Till, CEO, TNS North America
• Simon Chadwick, partner, Cambiar and gravitas (Host, in spirit)

Timeline [14m57s]
00m00s Intro.
00m56s Kimberly’s progress on TNS NA’s turnaround.
01m51s Tackling the post-merger consolidation (with NFO).
02m22s Why Kimberly chose TNS over lucrative offers from tech start-ups.
03m12s Leadership challenges during the turnaround.
04m32s Hiring leaders from within the industry vs. outside.
05m59s Hiring for turnaround (survival) vs. post-turnaround (growth).
07m35s Attracting talent to the new TNS NA.
08m23s Leadership style.
08m55s Shifting TNS NA from a “Microsoft” to a “Google”.
09m46s Encouraging entrepreneurism and risk.
12m20s Importance of qualifications.
13m02s Inspirational heroes.

Notable Mentions
Apple.
Bill Gates.
David Lowden.
Euro Disney.
Google.
M&A.
MBA.
Michael Eisner.
Microsoft.
Steve Jobs.
The Lion King.
Walt Disney.

Quotes
Choosing TNS: “The market intelligence industry is at a really interesting stage…it’s about to do maybe not a full paradigm shift, but technology is really driving this industry in new and interesting ways.”

The leadership challenge: “Somebody has to really come in and set the strategy and vision and then really have every single part of the company come in line with that. And it sounds easy…but it’s very, very difficult. And we were trying to do that in a very short time…we were brought in as the team to turn things around.”

Hiring criteria: “My senior management team, I made sure that they could do stages 1 (turnaround) and 2 (growth), with a real emphasis on delivering 2.”

Removing bureaucracy: “…one of things I always kept saying to myself was if I ever get to run a company, I am going to make that I absolutely streamline and cut out all that stuff that general employees do not want, and employees love that.”

Managing risk: “Good management is able to say…cut your losses. And Michael Eisner at Disney used to say that a lot too. It’s killing off the projects that’s most difficult in a company because somebody’s passionate about pushing them.”

Importance of qualifications: “There are good leaders with and without MBAs.”

Thanks to KD Consulting for sponsoring this podcast, and to freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones for the outro

Music 
Steffen Coonan,
The Blue Mile and Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Leadership

 Probably the single most important [leadership] quality at the moment
is clarity.(Lorna Walters)

Sponsored by 
 THE LEADERSHIP SHOW  In the previous edition of The Leadership Show, host Simon Chadwick chatted with some of industry’s foremost entrepreneurs. Now it’s the turn of three corporate leaders in mega agencies to define their leadership style and imperatives. And while you’d expect a contrast, it’s not always where you’d expect

Listen to other podcasts in this series

 STARRING 

• Bob Skolnick, CEO, Synovate North America
• Lorna Walters, CEO, Research International USA
• Phyllis Macfarlane, Head, GfK NOP Custom
• Simon Chadwick, partner, Cambiar and gravitas (Host)

Timeline [22m37s]
00m00s Intro.
01m21s Most important qualities in large agency leaders.
03m27s The value of passion in corporate leadership.
05m11s Dealing with change – corporate restructuring, being sold.
06m22s The challenge of employee transparency and mission evangelism.
07m00s Decision-making autonomy.
08m03s Leadership skills and development.
09m42s Identifying future leaders.
11m46s Leadership development: grow internally vs. bring in new blood?
12m41s Best growth strategy: organic vs. acquisitions?
15m38s Leadership legacy for each guest.
17m21s Leadership heroes.

Notable Mentions
Adrian Chedore (Synovate).
Ambiguity.
Billie Jean King.
Congressman Maurice Udell.
Eric Salama (Kantar).
Kimberly Till (TNS).
Kit Molloy.
Michael Jordan.
Moses.
Nelson Mandela.
Oliver Cromwell.
Paradox.
Passion in leadership.
Philip Barnard.
Second Life.
Senator Barack Obama.
Social networks.
Synovate Rap video.
Tiger woods.
Tony Cowling (TNS).
TRU (Teenage Research Unlimited).
Warren Buffett.
Web 2.0.
Xerox.

Quotes
Good leadership qualities: “Probably the single most important quality [for leadership] at the moment is clarity. Clarity of vision, clarity of purpose, externally and internally.” (Lorna Walters).

Good leadership qualities: “Being able to deal well with ambiguity and change at an individual level.” (Bob Skolnick).

“Philip Barnard used to say ‘never underestimate the power of ambiguity’!” (Simon Chadwick).

Passion: “Passion can’t exist without purpose.” (Lorna Walters).

Passion: “I’m not being condescending here [towards entrepreneurs] but to be passionate about a single issue is easier than to be passionate about a whole range of things.” (Phyllis Macfarlane).

Transparency with employees: “Any form of being patronising or only giving certain pieces of information or trying to spin and manage is just a nonsense.” (Lorna Walters).

Autonomy: “GfK are a very benign owner…they don’t impose guidelines and so it makes for a much, much easier decision-making process.” (Phyllis Macfarlane).

Identifying future leaders: “That’s a very difficult question…intuition is very important. I think the thing that distinguishes people…is the ability to see the big picture…to see the trends, to pull it together…and it’s surprising how many people don’t see big pictures.” (Phyllis Macfarlane).

Developing leaders: “It is absolutely essential…to demonstrate a career path by cultivating leaders [internally]…I think the US industry particularly did a miserable job of training and developement.” (Bob Skolnick).

Growth challenges: “It’s wrong to assume that large companies don’t have a high growth opportunity.” (Lorna Walters).

Legacy: “One of the nicest leaving cards I had was for one of my guys who I brought in for charting…he said ‘thank you for holding the door of IT open while I slipped in’”. (Phyllis Macfarlane).

Legacy: “I would like people in retrospect to feel like I helped create pathways…and that we had fun building something together.” (Bob Skolnick).

Legacy: “Being open and honest and leaving behind an organisation that is fearless and confident…” (Lorna Walters).

Thanks to KD Consulting for sponsoring this podcast, and to freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones for the outro

Music 
Steffen Coonan,
The Blue Mile and Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Leadership

 Entrepreneurship: “The satisfaction of building something from nothing“
(Gian Fulgoni)

 
 THE LEADERSHIP SHOW  Not all leaders are entrepreneurs. And not all entrepreneurs make good leaders. But, my oh my, when you get leaders that ARE good entrepreneurs, you can be sure that innovation and success are close behind. So sit down and prepare to be inspired by some anecdotes and wise words from three entrepreneurial leaders of our time – Chet Zalesky, Clare Bruce and Gian Fulgoni, Gian being a serial entrepreneur. Hosted by none other than Simon Chadwick, himself a former leader at Gfk NOP and now a strategic advisor. Part of our new leadership series, look out for more episodes

Listen to other podcasts featuring Clare

 STARRING 

• Chet Zalesky, founder and President, CMI Solutions
• Clare Bruce, founder and CEO, Nunwood Consulting
• Gian Fulgoni, co-founder and Chairman, comScore Networks
• Simon Chadwick, partner, Cambiar and gravitas (Host)

Timeline [21m34s]
00m00s Intro.
01m12s What makes an entrepreneur?
02m19s Starting a business through frustration.
03m11s The satisfaction of building something from nothing.
03m24s Entrepreneurial DNA.
04m35s Are entrepreneurs driven by passion?
06m37s Self belief and battling naysayers.
07m51s “What on earth am I doing!”.
09m10s How the founder’s role changes (“[over time] the justification for me becomes less obvious”).
10m43s The initial vision.
11m46s Change as a friend of the entrepreneur.
12m22s Becoming personally involved in hiring.
13m00s Giving staff a stake in the business.
13m58s Leaving the business and passing the torch.
14m44s Retaining creativity by investing in startups.
16m39s Inspirational hereos and role models.
19m58s Is MR naturally entrepreneurial?

Notable Mentions
ACNielsen.
Atari.
Commodore.
Donald Trump.
Dotcom boom and bust.
Dr. Alfred A. Kuehn (founder, Management Science Associates).
Entreprenurism.
IRI.
John Malec (founder, IRI).
Keller Fay.
Management Science Associates.
Margaret Thatcher.
Venture capitalism.
Winston Churchill.
Yesmail.

Quotes
On what makes an entrepreneur: “Someone who can’t work in a larger organisation!” (Gian).

“My family came from a farming background.” (Gian).

“We’ve even moved on from insight to adding emotion to everthing we do. Adding pixie dust is how we describe it, adding something that will touch their hearts and reach them as a person.” (Clare).

“[A receptionist asked me how I did it]…it wasn’t that I did it, I loved what I did…You really need to follow your passion and the rest should take care of itself.” (Chet).

“I would say though that the passion is necessary if one’s an entrepreneur because you’re always coming up against people who will tell you something can’t be done…you’ve just got to have alot of passion and emotion to just keep going and drive through all of that.” (Gian).

“As you build a company it’s really important to not have your people see the doubts that maybe occasionally cross your mind as to whether something can be done or not.” (Gian).

“It makes no sense to hire professional managers during the early years of a company, it’s the last thing you want. You want people who can thrive in change and people who are creative.” (Gian).

“The challenge for me, and I’m sure for every other leader on the planet, is to create the environment that makes these awesome people stay…we can’t afford to be so stupidly arrogant these days.” (Clare).

Thanks to freelance media and marketing journalist Jo Bowman for the use of her dulcet tones for the outro

Music 
Steffen Coonan and Theatrimus from the PMN

Series:Leadership