The thing about building something from nothing, especially when you look, sound or come from a background that doesn’t fit the mold, is that you’re not just running a business. You’re running through walls.
I’ve lived that journey. I grew up in El Paso, a first-generation Mexican-American kid who learned early on that nobody was going to hand me a seat at the table. So I built one.
Over the years — starting as a linebacker at Columbia University, breaking into commodities trading, then founding OTC Global Holdings and watching it become the largest independent interdealer brokerage in the world — I had to constantly evolve as a leader. Not in theory, but in survival. These nine principles aren’t from a playbook. They’re the ones I lived by. Some came naturally. Some I had to learn the hard way.
Related: 5 Key Leadership Principles That Drive Real Results
1. Impact over ego
I’ve seen more deals die at the altar because someone needed to be right rather than effective. I’ve been that guy, too. When we were first building OTC Global Holdings, I clung to a few ideas too tightly (branding decisions, hiring calls, even tech platforms) because they were mine. But ego doesn’t scale. Impact does.
Today, I tell every founder I mentor: Your pride is not your strategy. Kill your ego before it kills your business.
2. Let the doubters talk
In the early days, when I told people I was going to build a global brokerage firm out of Houston, they smiled like I’d just told them I was going to open a taco truck in Paris. I wasn’t from New York. I didn’t go to Wharton. I didn’t look like the rest of the trading world.
But here’s the truth: Once you stop performing for the crowd and start building for the customer, you free yourself. Let the doubters talk. They’re not on your payroll.
3. Find a good wingman
No one does this alone. I’ve been lucky to have business partners and key team members who weren’t just smart but who challenged me, complemented my blind spots and shared the same fire.
In the early 2000s, when we were still scrappy and cash-conscious, I had a partner who pulled me aside and said, “Javi, you’re great at kicking the door open. I’ll handle what happens next.” That trust saved me from burning out and saved the company from imploding.
Find someone who’s not a clone of you. Find the one who calls your bluff when you need it.
4. Find a role model
I didn’t grow up with CEOs in my circle. But I knew how to study them. I read every business bio I could get my hands on, shadowed the veterans in the industry and learned not just what they did but how they thought.
Eventually, I stopped copying and started adapting. You don’t need a mentor in the traditional sense. You need a blueprint, even if it’s borrowed.
Related: 7 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Became a Leader
5. Live and learn
Let me be honest: My first investor pitch was a disaster. I stumbled through the numbers, my hands were shaking, and I accidentally called the investor by the wrong name — twice. I wanted to crawl under the table.
But I showed up again the next day. And the next. That’s the toll we pay. If you’re not willing to look foolish in the beginning, you’re not ready to win in the end.
6. Obsession beats talent
I wasn’t the smartest guy in the room when I started trading. But I was the most obsessed. I was the one reading European market updates at 3:00 a.m. I was the one calling brokers overseas just to ask dumb questions they didn’t want to answer.
Raw talent is fine, but obsession is what builds empires. If it doesn’t keep you up at night or wake you up in the morning, it’s probably not your thing.
7. High agency is a superpower
Agency means you believe you have control even when the odds are stacked. It’s not delusion. It’s defiance.
When the 2008 financial crisis hit, we had every reason to fold. The markets were frozen, clients were panicking, and we were bleeding. But I looked at my team and said, “Nobody’s coming to save us. So we save ourselves.”
High agency leaders don’t wait for perfect conditions. They move anyway.
8. Calendar your priorities
Don’t tell me what your priorities are. Show me your calendar.
I used to say my family was #1 — but I realized we hadn’t had a chance to go out for dinner in three months. That hurt. So, I started putting the important stuff in ink. My workouts. My daughters and wife. Thinking time.
The calendar doesn’t lie. If it’s not scheduled, it’s not sacred.
Related: What Makes a Good Leader? Here’s What I’ve Learned After 20-Plus Years as a CEO.
9. Adapt or die
I’ve reinvented myself a dozen times. Broker. CEO. Investor. Philanthropist. Now, I’m working with new ventures in AI, renewable energy and advising young entrepreneurs who remind me of myself 25 years ago.
The world doesn’t care how things used to be. It cares how fast you can pivot. I’ve watched great companies die because their leaders were too nostalgic. I’ve also seen underdogs rise because they had the guts to throw out what wasn’t working.
Success isn’t a straight line. It’s a series of battles — some public, most private. These principles? They’re not just ideas. They’re the reasons I’m still in the fight.
And if you’re reading this, so are you.
The thing about building something from nothing, especially when you look, sound or come from a background that doesn’t fit the mold, is that you’re not just running a business. You’re running through walls.
I’ve lived that journey. I grew up in El Paso, a first-generation Mexican-American kid who learned early on that nobody was going to hand me a seat at the table. So I built one.
Over the years — starting as a linebacker at Columbia University, breaking into commodities trading, then founding OTC Global Holdings and watching it become the largest independent interdealer brokerage in the world — I had to constantly evolve as a leader. Not in theory, but in survival. These nine principles aren’t from a playbook. They’re the ones I lived by. Some came naturally. Some I had to learn the hard way.
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