CAREERS: Q&A with ... James Ross, Bloomberg Asia-Pacific

<p>Name: James Ross </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Job title: Marketing, media and syndication director, Bloomberg </p><p>Asia-Pacific </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What is your greatest achievement? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Helping to launch Bloomberg Television in Asia-Pacific four-and-a-half </p><p>years ago and taking it from having no programming to 10 to 12 hours of </p><p>local content a day. I was a programme manager back then. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What would be your dream brand to work on and why? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I'd have to say Bloomberg. It's a great brand because it's international </p><p>yet there's still a lot of scope to develop it. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What would you do if you weren't in television? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I'd be involved in the travel industry. I used to work for BBC radio and </p><p>made travel programmes that examined destinations in the UK, as well as </p><p>far-flung places such as the Caribbean. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I worked as a reporter and a producer. Doing radio on the road was a lot </p><p>of fun. The main difficulty was finding interviewees because when you're </p><p>in far-flung places not many people speak English. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What was your big break? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Getting a job 15 years ago as a sound engineer with BBC. If I hadn't got </p><p>that job I wouldn't have got all the jobs that followed. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Who was your mentor and how did this person influence you? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Strangely enough my mentor - in terms of the person who had the greatest </p><p>impact on my career - was someone I hated. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>When I was in high school the head master asked me what I wanted to </p><p>do. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>I told him I wanted to work in broadcasting and he told me to get a real </p><p>job. It's a funny reversal of things; if he hadn't said that I wouldn't </p><p>have been so determined to get into broadcasting. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Is there a secret to your success? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>You need to believe in yourself and have the determination to </p><p>achieve. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>How do you handle difficult people? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Be reasonable. Try not to get angry or overly excited because that can </p><p>just backfire. But don't give up because there's always a way to get </p><p>around a problem. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>What advice would you give to the next person to do your current </p><p>job? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Be prepared to compromise. Be patient and try and understand other's </p><p>needs. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Who is the person you most admire? </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>It would have to be an entrepreneur. Someone who started a business and </p><p>built it up into something large. Michael Bloomberg is one person who </p><p>has done that. Another is Richard Branson. Virgin started as a small </p><p>university enterprise and now it's a billion dollar group. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>