Ross Johnson Essay

RJR Reynolds was not the only company that Ross Johnson changed in terms of leadership and culture. During the mid-1970’s before the formation of RJR Nabisco, Johnson was offered a position to become the president of an American food company based in Montreal called Standard Brands. Johnson rose up the ranks and changed the firm from a cost conscious ordinary corporation into a lavish spending corporate fraternity house. Johnson “hit Standard Brands like a hurricane” and fired 21 out of 23 of the top executives in his first year. He replaced the original executives with his own “merry men.” These men shook up the culture of the firm and changed operations, launched new products, and partied heavily in the evenings. The firm before Johnson arrived

Johnson leased a corporate jet and purchased high end luxury cars for all of his executives. The company became a fraternity house with profanity and arguments occurring in almost all of the conversations among employees. The lingo in the office went from “I beg to differ” to I have no f-ing idea what you are talking about” (22). Traditional business hours were also broken when Johnson took over. He held meetings into the late hours of the night and would often leave the office early to meet friends on the golf course. The typical day at Standards Brands included arriving late, working until around seven thirty, and then drinking with his “merry men” and talking business until the bars closed. The business meetings were held in wrinkled sweatshirts during the late hours of the night after drinking and ordering takeout rather than in suits in board rooms. Johnson changed the firm further when he increased the salaries for executives by nearly double and when he purchased company apartments, club memberships, and box seats at Madison Square Garden for his employees. Standard Brands’ culture had truly underwent a transformation from cost conservative to cost ignorant and there is no one to thank for the transformation besides the power wielding non-company man named Ross