Trying to out-run the failure monster with Shanee Ben-Zur (CMO @Earnest)
Trying to out-run the failure monster with Shanee Ben-Zur (CMO @Earnest)
The journey from being publicly shamed on the streets of NYC to CMO
Hey it’s Andrew.
I’m excited to share the latest episode of the podcast with Shanee Ben-Zur, where she shares the three toughest moments on her career, and what she’s do differently if she could go back in time!
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“My first business trip ever ended with my boss screaming at me in the middle of the street in NYC. It felt like the worst day of my life.”
Shanee Ben-Zur was a junior associate acting as handler to one of the company leaders, helping him navigate his way to client meetings during a transit strike.
Things weren't going well.
Shanee couldn't get them to the meeting on time and her boss accused her of goofing off. He told her to get her shit together. Shanee burst into tears ... and then retreated to a Sephora to regroup.
Immediately after the meeting, Shanee gave her two weeks notice.
It was a scary decision to make in the heat of the moment, but it triggered a butterfly effect that changed her career trajectory, and redirected her into tech marketing.
Since getting chewed out on the streets of NY, she’s held positions at CrunchBase, Dropbox, Salesforce, NVIDIA, and today works as CMO at Earnest.
“In many ways, my career has been ‘right place, right time,’ but also kind of allowing myself to not just do what I thought I had to do,” Shanee says. “It was more about leaning into my skills, and taking advantage of the opportunities that were around me.”
In addition to reliving her traumatic initial work experience, Shanee also shared about:
Realizing she (unknowingly) had created a culture of fear, that kept her team from giving her honest feedback
The time she told her boss to fire her after learning why a lot of her team quit
How she eventually realized she couldn’t expect her CEO boss to fill her emotional, corporate, and professional needs
The role of coaching/mentorship in her life
Watch or listen below 👇
Specific moments to listen for:
[04:34] Being a child of immigrants influenced her into the wrong field
[09:01] Shanee’s boss screamed at her in the middle of NYC
[12:03] Playstation changed the trajectory of Shanee’s career
[18:31] What caused Shanee’s work tears
[25:31] Creating a culture of fear
[30:57] The goal is to hire people who are smarter than you
[34:44] Therapy changed Shanee’s life
[38:25] Benefit from learning how to communicate wins strategically
Resources:
I'm starting to work on a new project 🎬!
A miniseries (with the help of my podcast production agency, Share Your Genius) where I follow one growth team and highlight what it's really like behind the scenes.
My goal is to showcase some of the challenges they're facing, how they're navigating them, and the constraints they're working around.
The series will have short episodes (6-10 mins each) including interviews with the team mixed with my commentary. Sort of like The Office meets Planet Earth.
It’s something I would have binged when I was in-house. Because I never could learn/collaborate with other growth teams as much as I wanted to.
Interested in sponsoring the pod? Let’s chat! sponsor@deliveringvalue.co