Decoding Disruptors: Bozoma Saint John, CMO at Endeavor

Michael Gervais (0:08)

Welcome to Decoding Disruptors, a special edition of the Finding Mastery podcast presented without interruption by Microsoft. And I wanna share a bit of my backstory, my relationship with Microsoft. For the past eight years, Compete to Create and I, we've had the privilege of working with them, beginning with their CEO, Satya Nadella, and his executive team, and then an additional 30,000 people across their company.

And Microsoft has radically transformed under Satya's leadership with a really bright emphasis on building a culture around mindset, inclusion and diversity, with the aim to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

When Microsoft talks to its customers about reinventing their business, of course they talk about technology and data, security, privacy, but the real kind of deep rooted essence of it, the one thing that really drives organizational transformation is cultural change. And they understand it, they've been living it and breathing it for the last handful of years in a very dynamic way. And this series is the company's initiative to celebrate nine female industry leaders who have transformed themselves and their businesses. So Microsoft is fulfilling its responsibility of bringing these incredible stories to its customers. I gotta tell you, this organization truly cares about people and their psychological skills that they need to be able to flourish. So I couldn't be more excited to partner with Microsoft in bringing this series to life.

Decoding Disruptors takes a deep dive into the minds of these extraordinary women who have disrupted the narrative in their businesses, their industries and even their communities. And in a culture that we're just mesmerized by tips and tricks, strategies, shortcuts and advice to be successful, my intention was to illuminate something far more grounded, far more foundational, the beliefs and the inner narratives that shape our identities and set the parameters for what's possible in our lives. And in short, I wanted to understand the mindset of these women who have mapped their own course in the world of business.

I sat down with each woman and we filmed each episode. I gotta tell you, for me to be in it, it was incredible. And we've created condensed clips based on their insights. And it's really amazing. You can watch all of them at decodingdisruptors.com. And we've also decided to release a few of them with extended footage on the Finding Mastery podcast feed. And this is the audio feed, the audio version of it. In the first episode, I sit down with Bozoma Saint John. She's a marketing rock star who has led some of the world's largest brands. She's currently the CMO of Endeavor, formerly named William Morris Endeavor. And that's considered one of the most powerful agencies in Hollywood. And they really sit right at the epicenter of culture. Previous to that, she was at Uber, Apple Music and iTunes, Beats and PepsiCo.

Bozoma was inducted into Billboard's Women in Music Hall of Fame. So she was also featured on Adweek's cover as one of the most exciting personalities in advertising. And you'll want to see how that translates in video on the decodingdisruptors.com website. This is just a real spark about how she communicates. And so all that being said is she is a superpower in authenticity. And in this episode, you'll get a sense of how she unapologetically brings herself into a room. And that authentic way just really lights up the environment. And with that, let's jump right into the first Decoding Disruptors conversation with Bozoma. Boz.

So let's set the table just a bit and walk me through how you grew up. Like, what was it like early days for you?

Bozoma Saint John (4:18)

Ooh, man, very wild, very disjointed, sort of all over the place, constantly trying to reinvent all the time. That's what childhood felt like for me.

Michael Gervais (4:30)

That's okay. So for childhood, most people, it's like trying to figure the world out a little bit, looking to our parents and our community to try to get the message of who we're supposed to be and how the world works.

So where did you grow up?

Bozoma Saint John (4:43)

Well, I was born in Middletown, Connecticut. My dad was getting his Ph.D. and shortly after that, we moved to Ghana, Mutakra, Ghana, which is where both of my parents are from. My father joined the government, and he was a member of parliament. And quite dramatically, there was a coup d'etat, military takeover of the government when I was just about five, almost five. And my father then was thrown into military detention, which is basically prison.

This happened right before.

So we're at year five now. We've not gone anywhere yet.