A Chat with August’s Profile, Chris Harris, director, direct response marketing, Becker Group Direct

CS: Have you had any mentors in the business over the course of your career?
CH: Would it be shocking to you if I said no. Honestly, I literally taught myself everything. And I ask a lot of questions. I’m inquisitive and kind of intellectually restless. I’m always searching for new ways to do things. I’ve learned a lot from various printers over the years, and graphic designers, photographers and from list brokers. But it’s really been taking a little bit here, a little bit there … trying to figure out what that right formula is for what I’m trying to do. It’s really an imperfect process from a career standpoint.
If I’d gone into business school and gone into finance, for example, there would have been a much more clear career track. And I would have been involved with people who say, “OK, to get from here to the next level, or whatever, you should try to accomplish this, this and this.” With direct marketing, there is no real program. And that’s one of the things I like about it. But that’s why I was speaking so passionately about protecting the entrepreneur, because that’s one of the things that makes the United States so unique — we have a culture of entrepreneurship. And we don’t want to kill or hurt that. It’s what gives us such a competitive advantage throughout the world. And the United States, we’re able to reinvent ourselves constantly while the rest of the world has a hard time doing that. That’s why we continue to be as successful as we are.