For Pedro Lerma “Accountability Isn’t Weakness; It’s Leadership”

Pedro Lerma is one of the most influential voices in modern advertising. As the founder and CEO of LERMA/, an independent cross-cultural agency based in Dallas, Pedro is redefining what it means to build brands in a multicultural world. The son of Mexican immigrants, Pedro grew up in West Texas with a firsthand understanding of cultural nuance and community resilience. That lived experience has shaped a career built on the belief that all people and all cultures should be seen, valued, and embraced.

Pedro founded LERMA/ in 2008, originally as the Hispanic marketing division of The Richards Group, the nation’s largest independent creative agency at the time. In 2020, LERMA/ became independent, expanded to a full-service agency, and has been on a rocket ride ever since. Under Pedro’s leadership, LERMA/ has built a 15-year partnership with The Home Depot, became the lead agency of record for The Salvation Army, launched ‘He Gets Us’, the largest and most innovative campaign about faith in advertising history, and run six Super Bowl campaigns. In 2024, Pedro also co-founded MEL, a new Hispanic-led communications agency in partnership with Richard Edelman and Luis Miguel Messianu.

Pedro’s impact extends well beyond advertising. He serves on the boards of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, SMU Meadows School of the Arts, Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, and the Hispanic Marketing Council. He also chairs the annual Latino fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and serves on the Refugee Services Task Force for Catholic Charities. Whether building brands or building bridges, Pedro Lerma remains committed to using the power of communication to create a better, more equitable world.

He sat down with LBB to look back on a missed commercial spot that ended up solidifying a working relationship…

Early in my career, I was working on a furniture brand. I was young – maybe mid-20s – still learning how this industry worked, but I’d started to build a relationship with a particularly tough client. The kind where every interaction felt like a test.

We were a few months into working together, and I was finally starting to feel like we were gaining ground. Then we blew it.

One of their commercials didn’t run as planned. It was a scheduling oversight on our end, and I knew it was going to land hard. I dreaded the conversation. I braced myself for the worst – a scolding, or worse, losing the client.

But I walked into the meeting and did the one thing that felt right: I owned it. I told the client exactly what happened, no sugarcoating. I took full responsibility, and more importantly, I laid out the steps we were putting in place to make sure it never happened again.

To my surprise, he didn’t unload on me. In fact, his respect for me grew. That moment taught me something foundational: trust isn’t built by being perfect; it’s built by being accountable.

Since then, I’ve made plenty of mistakes. But I’ve carried that lesson with me every step of the way. Accountability isn’t weakness; it’s leadership. It’s honesty in the service of trust.

Now, as a leader, I try to model this for my team. When something goes wrong, I don’t want people to hide – I want them to step up. I’ve seen over and over again how much stronger relationships get when you lead with transparency and humility.

And that lesson from a missed commercial spot? It’s still one of the most valuable moments of my career.