Thursday Thoughts on Leadership: The Secret to Success

By Gino Blefari

Last week my travels found me first in Northern California on Friday, then Southern California at the beginning of this week and today, in Columbus, OH for a meeting with the fantastic Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Professional Realty team and Owner David Mussari, Broker Rob Arnold and Market President Michael Smith.

While in Northern California, I had the opportunity to pick up my new car—a Tesla Model X SUV—and the experience inspired me to do a little digging on Tesla CEO, co-founder and notorious boundaries-pusher, Elon Musk. Today, Musk is in the news because he just unveiled the Tesla Model 3, his first foray into more affordable, mass-market automobiles that many say will revolutionize the auto industry, signaling a change from fuel-based cars to ones that run on electricity. And though production for these cars won’t begin until 2017, the Model 3 still represents a major step forward in the evolution of the electric automobile.

But for Musk, the man whose main WIG (Wildly Important Goal) is actually to help humans live on other planets, it’s all part of the plan. My recent research on Musk revealed that those who’ve worked closely with him understand that his success comes from one simple secret.

What is it that secret? Well, here’s what SpaceX co-founder Jim Cantrell once shared about Musk: “It doesn’t matter if it’s going up against the banking system (Paypal), going up against the entire aerospace industry (SpaceX), or going up against the U.S. auto industry (Tesla). He can’t imagine NOT succeeding, and that is a very critical trait that ultimately leads him to success.”

So what’s the message? When it comes to success, passion and belief aren’t just half the battle … they ARE the battle, the fight and the only way to win the war. Some people think great leaders need optimism but in reality, optimism needs great leaders who don’t just see success as a probably outcome; they see it as an inevitable, undeniable truth.

GINO BLEFARI is CEO of HSF Affiliates LLC. You can follow Gino on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.