How Lace's ambition was too great for the confines of Grey

Grey hired Garry Lace to give its London agency a profile. It certainly has one now. However, it's not quite the image Grey bargained for when it signed him as the chief executive at the end of 2002. Now, with his abrupt exit, onlookers are asking whether a desire for fame and fortune will prove his undoing. In hiring Lace, so at odds with Grey culture, Carolyn Carter, Grey Global Group president for Europe, took a gamble. Equally important as his reputation as a new-business getter, as far as Grey was concerned, was his skill at generating positive PR. Having had her fingers burned by attempting to bring color to the agency, most expect Carter to settle on a Procter & Gamble-friendly, conservative manager.