IV. ASSESSMENT OF CHARLOTTE BEERS
Positive Results
When Charlotte Beers presided as the CEO of O&M, she quickly recognized the agency’s situation in the market. As the company couldn’t adjust to the clients’ demands for low-cost services, global communications, and other integrated services, its revenues were in decline. There was low morale due to the hostile takeover. Many senior employees left the company, and due to lack of discipline, it negatively impacted the agency’s financial figures.
When Beers sent out the welcome video to the entire company, she strongly suggested the need for change by having full support and involvement of all those employees who understood her passion and were ready to share her dream for the company. The video was perceived to be inspiring.
At the same time, Beers’ leadership came across as a bit of coercive. She showed her determination to bring change by “dismissing a top-level executive who failed to instigate necessary changes” (Ibarra & Sackley, 2011, p. 5).
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But she fell short when it came to long-term goals, such as the vision of the company. This could be due to reasons like displaying authoritative leadership style, having limited experience at the management level, and showing lack of interest towards the agency’s internal customers.
Beers had the clear picture of being the bridge between the needs of the clients and the strengths of O&M. But in this process, she forgot about her employees. During the period when the company was going through low morale phase, she would have done a better job in putting across her innovative and creative ideas by becoming the bridge between the agency and her employees. However, she was so focused on the big picture (new vision, goals, and intense focus on brand and clients) that she did not pay attention to the smaller aspect (educating her