After finishing high school, our guest, James Berman, knew he loved the English language and creativity. Still, he had no clue what career path to choose, so he consulted an educational psychologist. After several aptitude tests, the results indicated that James's more suitable career paths would be either journalism or accounting. Numbers looked the more practical choice, so he took the accounting route; he chose numbers over copywriting. But his love for creative work and being in creative environments was deep, so to avoid losing touch with his creative side, he built his career in the advertising industry.
James Berman is the CFO of CBX, former CFO of the HL Group, and former Controller of MRM Worldwide, the digital agency of McCann Erickson. Born in Wales, James and his family moved to South Africa, where he grew up and experienced an extremely isolated culture during apartheid. At 21, James traveled to the UK first, then visited a couple of countries in Europe and America, where he would establish himself and stay for good.
We had a fantastic conversation about creativity, culture clash, diversity, and customer service. James shared his journey into the agency and advertising world and how he absorbed the impact of the cultural differences between the South African and the American approach to work. We also talk about how it was for James to establish himself as an immigrant in the US, his experiences dealing with C-Level and partners, his thoughts on client service vs. strategy, and more.
Tune in and listen to episode 8 of The Chemistry Factor and see creativity, the advertising world, and the American work ethic from a different perspective.
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