My proactiveness got me here

Joanna Gow is the Managing Director Professional Marketing Services, PMS, Group. PHOTO | COURTESY

What you need to know:

  • I have been lucky enough to have several mentors, I don’t believe any one person can guide me in all the challenges I will face in different aspects of my life and career, but if I had to name one person, it would be Michael Joseph, the former CEO of Safaricom. He took a small department in Telcom and turned it into the most successful business in Africa – as a client, he was tough and demanding, but always knew exactly what he wanted - his decisions took the company from milestone to milestone.
  • These days, I don’t make difficult business decisions without consulting him, whether it’s a career change decision or office politics or how to motivate my team to achieve. 

I have been in advertising for about 18 years now. I started at the bottom and have worked in all departments, including media production. I enjoyed most of it. The pinnacle of my career however was in 2008 when I became general manager at Redsky and got to run an agency of 30 very diverse creative individuals. After doing this successfully, I realised that I needed to move to the next level. 

The five questions   

1. What were you doing at 21? 

I was working at a hotel in Mombasa. I did that for about a year. Constantly interacting with people who were on holiday made me realise that I wanted to be the on the other side of it. To be able to afford to go on holiday, so I decided to leave and better my life. 

2. Who is your mentor?

I have been lucky enough to have several mentors, I don’t believe any one person can guide me in all the challenges I will face in different aspects of my life and career, but if I had to name one person, it would be Michael Joseph, the former CEO of Safaricom. He took a small department in Telcom and turned it into the most successful business in Africa – as a client, he was tough and demanding, but always knew exactly what he wanted - his decisions took the company from milestone to milestone.

These days, I don’t make difficult business decisions without consulting him, whether it’s a career change decision or office politics or how to motivate my team to achieve. 

3.Which one quality of Joanna do you owe your success to? 

My absolute resilience in the face of adversity. Communications is a tough business. I have the unwavering belief that nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. 

4. What would you tell that young person reading this? 

There are so many options out there available to the youth. You don’t have to stick to the traditional careers. Try to do what you love and make it your career. While at it, don’t sit back and expect success to fall into your lap, it takes hard work and determination. Ride the wave and don’t forget to have fun doing it 

5. Any hidden talents? 

I am an avid gardener, and my plants seem to love me back as they flourish beautifully and are always a topic of conversation for first-time visitors to my home.

The two most recent books that I couldn’t put down were Wangari Mathai’s  ‘Unbowed’–  her story is quite remarkable.  Another one is The Holy Cow, by Tarun Chopra – it took over a decade to write and is a story on the wonderful place that is India

*****

MY SUCCESS TIPS

1. I believe in myself. Ever since I was very young, I knew that I could achieve everything that I set out to do. Now when I want something, I keep my eyes on the prize.

2. I am a perfectionist, my team will attest to the fact that I will not allow any work to leave the agency if it is not as close to perfect as possible.

3. I listen to the people around me, I believe that there are nuggets of wisdom in everyone and sometimes the best ideas and thoughts come from the most unexpected people.  

4. I have good presentation skills and can usually convince my audience to buy into my pitch.

5. I have always been proactive, I don’t believe in sitting around and waiting for opportunity to come to me, I go out and find it for myself, this trait got me noticed by my bosses along my career path and got me to where I am today.