The Jack Morton Company
I never thought I would ever work in a corporate environment, so a side trip into corporate America was the furthest thing from my mind. But a parent of one of my Greenwich Country Day students owned a production company in New York City and offered me the opportunity to apply my skills in the creative department. I accepted and slowly worked my way up from creative assistant to associate creative director at a company in corporate America. But after a time, I became frustrated with the slow pace of my career advancement. So I applied for the position of Creative Director at another company in corporate America…
Cortez/Seidner, Inc.
At Cortez/Seidner, I not only flourished as a lead Creative Director but also achieved compensation that allowed me to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.
The video below is from the launch of the pharmaceutical named Vantin, developed by The Upjohn Company. The total audience was nearly four thousand sales reps. We motivated and trained them to be ready to detail this product to physicians nationwide. This video (which is 27 years old – so please excuse the quality) is a highlight reel of the entire event. Everything here was created, built, and executed from scratch by Cortez/Seidner. The launch won a gold medal at the New York Film and TV Awards.
This experience in corporate America taught me valuable lessons about leadership and creativity.
Eventually, Cortez/Seidner was acquired by…
The Caribiner Group
Working in corporate America presented unique challenges and opportunities that shaped my career.
I worked as a freelancer for a time after the Cortez/Seidner acquisition, but eventually joined the Caribiner Group as VP of Creative. It was a public company, and my impression was that the organization was much more interested in its stock price than in the creative quality of its products. As luck would have it, Caribiner was bought out by… who would have thought…
Many people find their purpose and passion while navigating corporate America, but I found myself questioning its values.
Jack Morton, Part Deux
Jack Morton, the place I originally left because they wouldn’t make me a Creative Director. When I returned, I was appointed Senior Vice President and Creative Director! What a sweet, sweet way to close the circle. Eventually, though, I got disillusioned by the ethics of the enterprise and just plain tired of the corporate world in general, especially corporate America. I’d spent a significant 15 years of my life there but left me wanting in terms of personal satisfaction. So I decided to end this chapter of my life and say goodbye to corporate America.
