Pros
Berland is growing at a rapid rate and they will continue to scale. They are developing a handful of IP products and selling them into Edelman Corporate and to clients directly. Most of these clients are people that Mike Berland has a personal/historical connection with. The department has a lot of 'team building' activities and free lunches and it is not uncommon for employees to dip out of the office around 5pm. So you can expect a good work-life balance. You will have the most amount of value and respect if you are a Project Manager. Berland's culture thrives on politically savvy Project Managers. On the positive side, they are consistent and rigorous quant researchers. On the negative side, they try to do everything themselves, leaving little room for others to grow. They surround themselves with junior employees with weak personalities and squeeze them to do tedious work.
Cons
Aside the points addressed above, Mike is an impulsive leader and his company is built on personal connections, not credibility or integrity (for example, he's recently brought his wife Marcela on board). His impulsive nature in particular creates a great amount of tension between himself and the VPs and SVPs he hires. He has a short attention span. Oftentimes, he is unaware of project timelines and jumps into promises, expecting everyone else to just take it in and deal with sporadic promises to clients. This is why Project Managers prefer to work independently of him. Another unfortunate truth is that the culture is built on complaining. Employees bond by discussing the shortcomings of leadership, the client work, and their personal lives. Also, given that Berland is a silo within a corporate PR company, employees complain about the inability of their PR colleagues to understand the role and relevance of research in their work. Some of these issues will be resolved, but a great amount of the problems are systemic. Despite all this, Berland will grow financially, but it is unlikely to be a place where the majority of employees will thrive.