Adam Bryant conducts interviews of senior-level executives that appear in his “Corner Office” column each week in the SundayBusiness section of The New York Times. Here are a few insights provided during an interview of Carter Murray , worldwide C.E.O. of the advertising agency FCB aka Foote, Cone & Belding. To read the complete interview, check out other articles, and obtain subscription information, please click here.

Photo credit: Earl Wilson/The New York Times

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Tell me about your early years.

My background is a little complicated, which probably suits me for a global role. My parents divorced when I was about 11, and remarried. I always say I have four parents, and between them they’re from France, Germany, England and Scotland. They’re Catholic, Jewish, Protestant and atheist. I grew up in Belgium, Britain and the Bahamas, I went to college in the United States, and my wife is from Nicaragua. So it’s a bit of everything.

I also had a very privileged background. I had everything I wanted. And then I went through a teenage identity crisis of asking whether I am who I am because it’s all been given to me, or is it because I actually am different and my force of personality is allowing me to have this amazingly happy, privileged life.

I had this desire to get out of England and go to the States for college. And after I graduated from Duke, I moved back to London. Our family business is high-end real estate. I just had a lot of fun. And my mother and stepfather, in particular, were being very nice. I lived in one of the properties they developed. I had an allowance. It’s quite ridiculous when I think about it now.

If you come from a privileged background and you’re taking the financial support, you start to think it’s your right to have it. I just became entitled. I had a credit card for emergencies, and it’s amazing, over time, what gets considered an emergency. Like, how often am I going to be in South Africa with this view? I need to order a bottle of wine.

My parents sat me down one day, and said, “You know, this isn’t free.” And after that sank in, I decided I was going to do it on my own. I cut up the credit card. I actually got even closer to my parents as a result because there wasn’t that financial bond. I think entitlement is the kiss of death for the soul of a human being.

What were some influences for your leadership style?

I’ve worked for some unbelievable people. I’ve had eight bosses, and seven of them are people I respect. Once, a long time ago when I was very young, I had one boss I didn’t like, and I ended up pouring a full pint of beer on his head in front of the entire team. I was so scarred and angered by the way he treated people, I decided I would never put myself in that situation again. When I work for someone, I have to either like or respect them, or both.

A lot of people feel as if they’re stuck with a bad boss.

Thirty years ago, when people stayed in one company, maybe they felt they didn’t have a choice. But today, with the fluidity of the marketplace, you do have that choice. You have a lot more power to understand your options than you did before. You want to work for people you can relate to and be inspired by, and believe in.

I think leadership is fundamentally changing. There are two schools of leadership.

There is one style, which is you’re going to come work for me, and I’m going to pay you this, and I’m going to judge you. I’ll decide your bonus, and I’ll decide when you’re ready to be promoted.

There is another one where you say to someone, “Look, I think you’re amazing, incredibly talented and you can do even more than you think in your wildest dreams. And I’m not going to manage you to do that. You will determine that yourself. What I can promise you is I’ll create a culture where that happens.”

The challenge I’ve learned with that type of leadership is you’ve got to hire triple-A talent, and you need to have even stronger checks and balances in the cultural infrastructure.

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To read the complete interview as well as Bryant’s interviews of other executives, please click here.

Adam Bryant, deputy national editor of The New York Times, oversees coverage of education issues, military affairs, law, and works with reporters in many of the Times’ domestic bureaus. He also conducts interviews with CEOs and other leaders for Corner Office, a weekly feature in the SundayBusiness section and on nytimes.com that he started in March 2009. In his book, The Corner Office: Indispensable and Unexpected Lessons from CEOs on How to Lead and Succeed, (Times Books), he analyzes the broader lessons that emerge from his interviews of hundreds of business leaders. To read an excerpt, please click here. To contact him, please click here.