Rowley Associates

Background

How self-aware are you? Self-awareness is a critical component of leadership. It affects the impact you have on others, your ability to read those around you, and whether you see opportunities as a threat or a challenge. 

To help our clients become more self-aware we often ask them to diagnose the leadership style of other famous, or infamous, leaders. The idea being we see things in others before we see them in ourselves and, using another leaders achievements, temperament, background and approach provides a mirror with which to diagnose own style – warts and all.

Try it yourself. Spend a few minutes familiarizing yourself with Bernbach’s achievements, personality, strengths and vulnerabilities and then use this information to diagnose her leadership style. You will have chance to compare your insights with ours at the end of the ‘analysis’.

If you want to take the exercise a step-further take our leadership diagnostic to compare yourself with some of the best in the business or call or email us for a free consult.

On the Couch

Bill Bernbach was the founder of New York Ad Agency DDB. I’d bet you probably have never heard of Bernbach but I’m sure you will have seen his influence on the advertizing media around you.

Bernbach was born in the Bronx, New York City, in 1911. His parents Jacob and Rebecca Bernbach were immigrants. Bernbach liked to hint that he came from a deprived background, saying that ‘he had no middle name because his parent’s couldn’t afford one’. However, his family was better off than most, his father being described by Bernbach as ‘an austere but elegant designer of women’s clothes’.

Physically Bernbach was unprepossessing but his physical appearance was more than compensated for by a razor sharp mind. He was described as a ‘quick-witted package of ego, determination, confidence and energy’. His friend and colleague Bob Levenson described him as ‘an outsized ego... lodged in an inconvenient body’. An oft-repeated joke about Bernbach has a colleague commenting on the day’s beautiful weather, ‘Thank you’ says Bill.

Bernbach’s first job out of University was in the mailroom of Schenley’s Distillers Company. His aspiration to find a job in advertising was derailed by the impact of the great depression. Not to be deterred Bernbach wrote an impromptu ad for Schenley and delivered it to the firms advertising department. The ad ran, just as Bernbach had written it, but with no credit given to him. But Bernbach was not deterred; in a masterstroke of networking he made the acquaintance of the Company President, Lewis Rosenstiel, over a shared admiration of the Lebanese American poet, artist and writer, Kahil Gibran. Rosensteil, an admirer of rags-to-riches stories, ordered that Bernbach be given a raise and a permanent job in the advertising department.

In 1949, after two years in the army and a job as vice president and creative director with Grey Advertising, Bernbach decided to start his own agency, Doyle Dane Bernbach. On the absence of commas between the names, another departure from the norm at the time, Bernbach was reported to have said, ‘Nothing will ever come between us, not even punctuation’. At the time Benrbachs remarkably quick rise to the top was attributed to ‘his unusual verbal, visual and people skills’ but he was also described as ‘a visionary, with a visionary’s zeal, and a worrier’. This combination of purpose and anxiety was to fuel his own ad agency.

DDB caught the rhythm of the time. In his book ‘Ad Land’ Mark Tungate writes the agency, ‘was more like a hip jazz combo than an advertising agency’ and Bernbach once compared its work to that of jazz great Thelonius Monk, founder of bebop (1). As a leader it is clear Bernbach was not afraid to be visible, tap into the culture of the time and break down barriers. He was also very clear about the type of people he wanted to recruit. He insisted the people hired fulfill two requirements: They had to be talented and they had to be nice. “If you were nice but without talent, we were very sorry but you just wouldn’t do,” he observed. “We had to ‘make it,’ and only great talent would help us do that. If you were a great talent but not a nice person, we had no hesitation in saying ‘no.’ Life is too short to sacrifice so much of it to living with a bastard.” (2). True to his beliefs, and borrowing from his mentor, William Weintraub, DDB was the first to hire ethnic minorities and women into visible and decision-making positions.

As the agency grew, management problems multiplied. Roles and responsibilities were confused; people were hired and provided little in the way of guidance or accountability, there was no succession planning and the agency lacked leadership. It’s a cautionary tale that whilst Bernbach provided vision and energy neither he nor his management team could provide day-to-day direction (3).  This lack of leadership and management decision-making ultimately ‘destroyed’ DDB.  Despite having the opportunity to go public twice Bernbach dithered and in the end DDB was merged with Needham Harper to become the largest advertising firm in the world. The merger of these two firms makes for an interesting read in and of itself. DDB is now part of the Omnicom Group.

Bill Bernbach passed away in 1982, yet the company he co-founded still holds to his beliefs of courtesy, intuition, fierce creativity, and innovation. The current leadership recognizes that they “are a product of his [Bernbach’s] imagination,” and the agency remains true to Bernbach’s belief that to be successful DDB has to be, by instinct and inclination, the enemy of the ordinary.

You can download a selection of Bernbach’s sayings here

Your diagnosis – some questions to consider:

• How does Bernbach’s leadership style compare to yours? How might he be like you? How are you different?
• What are his strengths? For example did he provide a compelling vision of the future and live his values and beliefs.
• Would working for someone like Bernbach bring out the best in you?
• How might you coach Bernbach to maximize his potential?
• Does he have any qualities you’d like to develop?

Our diagnosis of Bernbach’s Leadership Style

Diagnosing Bernbach’s leadership style using our model of conviction and connection identifies him as a C1 Leader, with exceptionally high conviction but less developed connection skills (4). Looking at Bernbach’s style in more detail his leadership behavior can be defined as Confident-Independent. These leaders appear powerful and self-assured. Their behavior communicates the message ‘I am a strong, competent, knowledgeable person on whom you can rely on for effective guidance and leadership’.  An underlying factor is their guidance has a distinctly competitive component. At its extreme there is a high probability this leader will display all the characteristics of the narcissist – self-absorbed, interpersonally exploitative and a belief they are ‘special’ and unique. These leaders can inspire and motivate or, create chaos and hostility. It’s interesting to consider that Bernbach was at his most effective when his agency was in start-up mode. As DDB grew his leadership became less effective.

References

(1)    Tungate, M. (2007). ‘Adland: A Global History of Advertising’. New York: Kogan Page, 278p

(2)    Levenson, B & Bernbach, B. (1987). ‘Bill Bernbach's Book: A History of Advertising That Changed the History of Advertising’. New York: Villard, 220p

(3)    Willens, D. (2009). ‘Nobody's Perfect: Bill Bernbach and the Golden Age of Advertising’. Create Space, 208p

(4)    Rowley, A. R. (2007). ‘Leadership Therapy: Inside the Mind of Microsoft’. New York: Palgrave: MacMillan, 243p