Charlotte Beers at Om

When Charlotte Beers was appointed CEO of Ogilvy & Mather, the company was experiencing deteriorating business and organizational crisis. The four "vital signs" of O&M point of view the company were not performing well: (1) Power: after the loss of important clients (especially American Express) the employees became disengaged and a "shaken confidence" permeated the whole company. (2) Identity: O&M had an international footprint with very autonomous local offices and there were no systems to promote collaboration among them. (3) Conflict: O&M had a "grotesquely polite" culture, a result of a selection process which recruited "gentlemen with brains". (4) Learning: The previous management team was not been able to recognize the "Forces for changes" (i.e. the economic shock of 1987 and the consequential increase in competition from "boutique" creative shops) that were reshaping the industry environment ("why did we need to change? Just keep doing the same thing, Better") and eventually led the company to be the object of a hostile takeover.

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