Bozoma Saint John says she’s successful in her career because she ignored this piece of advice
Bozoma Saint John does not shy away from the spotlight.
Saint John, 48, was the first black C-level executive to serve as Netflix’s chief marketing officer. Became Uber’s first branding officer assigned with reimproving the ridesharing company’s image. And he made headlines While he didn’t look like a typical “Apple fan” at Apple’s annual conference in 2016, he says he rocked the stage.
Saint John’s career moves are as bold as his personal style. And for that he credits what he considers to be well-intentioned but misguided advice.
“The first manager told me to never wear red lipstick or red nail polish,” Saint John told CNBC Make It when asked about the best career advice she ever received.
“He did it with good intentions, like, ‘You walk into a room and you don’t want to be too bold. You don’t want people to have opinions about you before you even open your mouth,'” Saint John says.
But “it made me question the way I looked in rooms. As a black woman with a very tall and bold wardrobe, I realized it really diminished me.”
Saint John says he decided to ignore that advice and turn it around to “be the most colorful, boldest, smartest, wittiest person in a room and be very confident about it.”
“I managed to be successful because I didn’t follow that advice,” he says.
Saint John continues to pursue major career changes, becoming the first-time CEO of her own hair and beauty brand, Eve by Boz, and most recently adding “reality TV star” to her resume as a cast member of Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and co-host of NBC’s “On Brand with Jimmy Fallon.”
And he wants you to pursue big changes in your career.
As people approach the new year with new business goals, Saint John says it’s as good a time as any to go after what you really want in your career. “This pivot could happen at any time,” he says.
Here, Saint John draws from his own career and experience managing thousands of people to share the signs it’s time to leave a job, how to shape your professional brand, a major red flag in interviews with companies, and more.
When you realize it’s time to quit a job
My advice is generally that if you’re experiencing Sunday fears, you’re definitely in the wrong place. If you’re coming back from vacation and feeling so much pain in your stomach that you don’t want to go back to work, or you’re so scared of it that you can barely sleep, I think that’s a pretty big indicator that you need to go now.
The biggest mistake people make when pursuing a raise, promotion or resignation
If you want a promotion or more experience at your job, set a timeline within which you can achieve that goal or decide it’s time to leave. Create a timeline with your boss.
Often people approach this promotion or conversation from a very self-centered perspective. What the company and your manager want to hear is how this will help the company and the broader community of your colleagues.
So if you position it this way: “I want to be promoted to position This gives you some building blocks and a timeline to get to March 1.
When you’re trying to take the next step in the middle of your career, you should definitely have a plan to make sure you talk to your boss with a timeline in mind.
It’s a big mistake to think that all of this is yours and that you need to come up with ideas on how to move forward. If you don’t involve your manager in the timeline, they will have no idea what goal you are trying to achieve.
When you have this conversation, set the stage for everyone to know that you’ve met your goal of either getting that raise or that promotion, and if you do your part and don’t do it by March 1st, everyone will agree: ‘I’m quitting.’
How to take control of your own professional brand?
Whether you’re on TV or sitting in a booth, I believe your personal brand is important and to some extent you’re not in control. That’s why you should take control as much as possible.
If you’re sitting in a cubicle in an open floor plan and someone doesn’t appreciate your work, your responsibility is to ensure that the brand’s narrative about yourself is that you’re a hard worker, a creative, or a problem solver. Do your best to convey this brand the same way you would in front of the camera.
#1 quality hire
That’s thing #1: Bring your whole self. Don’t try to cut the edges of yours to get a better fit. The way to make yourself unforgettable is to actually be unforgettable.
There are so many uniquely unique things about each of us, about our experiences, about the history we come with, that incorporating these into your answers and the conversation you have is actually what will make someone remember you.
Often, as human beings, we think that for someone to get along with us and want to hire us, we must have similar interests or similar tastes. And I think it’s actually the opposite. Curiosity, wanting to get to know someone thinking, ‘They’re from here or they’ve had this experience and this could contribute to the job because I don’t have that experience’ is actually how you want to be perceived in an interview.
The biggest red flag to look for when interviewing a company
If you’re in an interview and the person speaking to you sounds like they’re looking for someone like themselves, run. Run fast, run far.
You want to be in a place where the unique contribution you bring to the job will be appreciated and loved. And it’s not just about your work experience. It’s about your cultural experience, your personal experience, and your emotional experience.
You’re one of them, so bring it on.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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