In the 1960s, Jim Heekin was all about rejecting the ‘Establishment.’ For him, that meant the Vietnam War and the advertising world in which his father worked.

Funny, because today he is a ranking member of the Madison Avenue establishment as chairman and CEO of Grey Worldwide, an enterprise with 10,000 employees across the globe.

“I grew up in the business. I went to a small liberal arts college and became a war protester. My thing was to avoid business and become a teacher,” Mr. Heekin said.

“Then I got a big raise, but it wasn’t enough to live on. I had studied psychology and literature, which are perfect training for the business, and joined J. Walter Thompson in 1975 in the research department,” he said.

Grey is one of the oldest, most successful agencies in the business and Mr. Heekin, a noted change-agent, was hired little more than a year ago by WPP Group of London which acquired the company in 2005. His mandate is to reposition the firm.

“I looked at what worked and what didn’t and what was needed to create a culture of change in a company that had been run by the same individual for decades,” he said.

Grey’s biggest success has been its ability to keep its clients happy.

“Grey has been singularly adept at sustaining client relationships. The [Procter & Gamble] relationship is our defining relationship. It’s a valuable partner,” he said. “The flipside of this focus is that Grey’s been too inwardly focused and must have more of a growth orientation.”

Grey has somewhat lagged on the creative side of the business.

“We weren’t that prominent in the past but won twice as many creative awards this year as the year before,” he said. “This is important for clients but also the reality is, in the business, success is about attracting a disproportionate share of talent out there.”

Of course, talent is not with its own share of challenges, notably in an organization this size.

“When you’re this big how do you keep it fresh? How do you deal with constant change? How do you keep a group of incredibly talented people with big egos, Type A personalities, and who are very insecure, together? How do you make sure they recognize and accept each other’s accomplishments and enjoy themselves at the same time? One way is not to tolerate other kinds of behavior and constrain conflicts,” he said.

Mr. Heekin’s first move was to bolster and emphasize Grey’s research and planning process, which is where he started in the business himself.

Planning is a little-known, but critical, aspect of advertising which combines research and psychology. Planners pore over market and consumer research to find out what’s behind purchasing decisions and to determine what attracts.

“Planning finds that ‘driving idea’ for a brand. It drives great creativity and Grey practically owned that expertise,” he said. “Take Nike. The planning brief to the creative people was ‘pursuit of passion’ because track shoes were not just about athletes, or running fast, or winning.It was about all the other people who own track shoes and have a passion about fitness.”

Likewise, planners on the MasterCard campaign found in research that people were no longer into conspicuous consumption, as in the heady 1980s, but have become more inner-driven and family-oriented.

“This is about virtuous spending. In the late 1990s, a different set of values took hold, deeper and more meaningful,” he said. “The driving idea from planners for MasterCard became the tag line: ‘The best way to pay for things that matter most in life.'”

Mr. Heekin has held down some of the most prestigious jobs in the business over a 30-year career span. Besides running Grey, he’s run Euro RSCG Worldwide, McCann-Erickson World Group and served on the boards of J. Walter Thompson and the Interpublic Group of Companies.

“Change is the only constant,” he said. “There is a continuous change in media alternatives, an increase in web vehicles, a need to reward people watching advertising and an increase in interactivity. Account executives in advertising used to be chosen because they knew who had the best martinis at lunchtime. Now the focus is on understanding the client’s business model in order to earn a seat at the table,” he said.

Mr. Heekin may have swapped the classroom for the grey flannel suit, but still retains his 1960s idealism.

“Advertising is at the core of the capitalist, free world system. It’s a powerful tool to drive marketing success and, when used properly, has the ability to influence and affect positive social change on a large scale.”

Grey’s biggest success has been its ability to keep its clients happy.