100 Days of Leo Burnett, the Midwestern Master of Mascots DAY 68

Here’s today’s Leo:

The biggest problem of all, as I see it, is a human one — how to keep from acting big.” — Leo Burnett

Leo Burnett was obsessed with the culture of his company, and that cultural obsession created enough energy to continue until today. Amongst all agencies, Leo Burnett remains a uniquely distinctive and cohesive culture, 50 years after his death. That’s something to be proud of, and it’s a testament to the power of culture. As Peter Drucker said: Culture eats strategy for breakfast.

So if you want to succeed, you’d better get that “culture thing” right!

One of the great gifts I have gotten from my manager — Allison Watson — at Microsoft is her investment in our culture through the work with Coach Pete Carroll and Dr Mike Gervais. Their company — Compete to Create — has totally transformed our culture in Microsoft U.S. and Allison led this initiative from Day 1.

Core to the philosophy is to have your own Personal Philosophy — and to lead from a position of authenticity. My personal philosophy is:

To help others succeed, because the measure of a life well-lived is how many lives you are able to change along the journey.

They are also very focused on high performance and recovery. Here’s a quick snippet from their excellent podcast series, Finding Mastery:

#madmen #advertising @LeoBurnett #LeoBurnett #CompeteToCreate #WinForever

Continue to Day 69