Mike Burns, left; Kevin Roberts.   (Photo: From left, Jennifer Karady; Duncan Cole)

Where Roberts is loud and larger-than-life, Burns is quiet and earnest. “Negativity, cynicism, and sarcasm are the leading causes of death when it comes to organizational confidence,” he told me at one point. “They don’t help the brand.” Detractors joked that Burns dreamed about General Mills. The rest of the agency’s clients, they said, didn’t exist to him.

At first, Kevin Roberts’s appointment as CEO was greeted by Burns with a shrug. After all, Burns and his team had survived mergers, palace coups, and other forms of corporate mayhem. Besides, the General Mills account was Saatchi’s cash cow. Surely, no one would meddle with that.

It wasn’t long before Roberts and Burns clashed. At first, it was merely personalities—the flamboyant Roberts and the quiet Burns simply rubbed each other the wrong way. Then it became corporate. While Roberts managed the Procter & Gamble account, he watched as General Mills flourished under Burns, largely without Roberts’s help, and with only the barest of lip service to Lovemarks.

Late in 2003, Roberts appointed Burns co-CEO of the New York office along with Saatchi veteran Scott Gilbert. But within months, Roberts changed his mind. He told Burns he was dissatisfied with his silo-breaking efforts (Roberts wanted more cooperation between agency teams) and said he would be hiring a sole CEO for New York from outside the agency. Gilbert would be let go, and Burns would go back to the General Mills business. Burns never had a strong desire to be CEO, but the way Roberts handled the situation humiliated him. Burns squirmed while the search for a new CEO went on for six months. The tension between the two men got worse when Roberts approached Anne Adriance about transferring out of Burns’s group to become head of human resources, without consulting Burns. Roberts says it was a promotion, but Adriance was frustrated; to her, it was a way of being kicked upstairs. Burns thought Roberts was dismantling his team.

The final breach between Burns and Roberts began the night before the September 14 meeting. According to Burns, a Saatchi human-resources executive called him to tell him that a new CEO would be announced the next day. It was the first Burns had heard a decision had been made, and the HR staffer, he says, wouldn’t tell him who had been chosen.

“You’re not going to tell me who is coming in?” asked Burns.

“No, we’re not. There is concern about a leak,” said the HR staffer.

“I’ve been here 25 years, and you won’t tell me so I can prepare my clients?” asked Burns.

“No.” (Roberts insists he, not an HR staffer, called Burns.)

The next day, Burns came in, as usual, at 7 A.M. He worked out in the company gym, showered, and then took the elevator down to the conference room.

The meeting began with the departing Gilbert offering a few remarks. Then Saatchi New York creative director Tod Seisser had the lights dimmed. Known for his dry, Woody Allen–like wit, Seisser played a reel of the agency’s latest commercials. After a few minutes, the lights came up halfway.

“This is a little emotional for me,” said Seisser, his voice trembling. “This is the last reel I will show. I’m leaving the agency. I’m really proud of the work we’ve done.”

There were gasps. A few people burst into tears. The room fell silent. Then a man dressed all in black walked toward the front.

It was Kevin Roberts. He grabbed the mike and strolled the stage like an Evangelist. He shook hands with Seisser and said, “I’ve been ‘in like’ with Tod from when I first met him. I’m still in like with him. But I need to love somebody, and we need to win more awards. We need to go in a different direction. It’s a new bus; either you’re on the bus or you’re off the bus. These are my new rock stars.”

From the back, new CEO Mary Baglivo and new creative director Tony Granger walked to the front. “This is Mary Baglivo,” said Roberts. “I lusted after her for eight years . . . professionally.” Roberts laughed, but few others did.

Roberts then railed about what he felt ailed the agency: average work, poor client relations, and a lack of profitability. Burns and his team took it as a slap: Roberts never mentioned that the General Mills account was hugely profitable or that, in Saatchi’s annual internal ratings, General Mills had never rated the agency higher.

As Roberts wrapped up his speech, he looked for Burns in the audience. Almost immediately, Roberts says, he regretted that he hadn’t given Burns ample time to absorb the news. “My heart sank,” says Roberts. “He was red and upset.” Burns later e-mailed Roberts saying he couldn’t believe Roberts had made Seisser attend his own funeral. “I found that strange,” Roberts says. “It was Mike who was most insistent that Seisser had to go.” (Burns denies that.)