Eva Longoria says this quality trumps an Ivy League education
Booking “Desperate Housewives” was a pivotal moment in Eva Longoria’s career.
The soap star further cemented her place in Hollywood with eight seasons as Wisteria Lane’s Gabrielle Solis before continuing her career as a director, producer and entrepreneur.
Longoria learned some crucial career lessons during her time on the set of the ABC drama. After working with dozens of directors on “Desperate Housewives,” Longoria told CNBC Make It that she saw leadership qualities she admired and other qualities she didn’t want to emulate.
An idea he refuses to embrace: The director is always right.
“I don’t think that’s the way it is,” says Longoria, 51, adding that the lesson she learned also applies beyond Hollywood.
Filmmaking and entrepreneurship, he says, is about collaboration; including hiring and consulting with people smarter than you, hearing from and learning from people who have been through similar experiences (whether successful or unsuccessful).
“Like this [idea] “‘Take this job alone and only you can make it happen’ is not true,” says Longoria, adding: “There is a village of brains that you need to evaluate.”
Longoria, who has a new partnership with tech device company Lenovo advising small business owners, says mentorship has played a big role in her growth as a manager and leader. Some of his best mentors, he says, have been people he’s never met or been personally close to.
“One thing I’ve learned: You don’t even have to know your mentor to learn from them,” says Longoria, adding that finding someone you admire and studying their work, reading their books, or listening to their interviews can be forms of mentoring.
“I love Martin Scorsese as a filmmaker, and I’ve never met him,” he says. “I love Oprah and everything she does. I’ve met her but I don’t know her [well]But he was a mentor to me.”
Longoria says seeking mentorship and making the most of it comes down to resourcefulness; This is one of the most important characteristics he looks for when hiring people or forming partnerships with them.
“I love people who figure it out,” he says, and are willing to “do whatever it takes to get to the final solution.” That doesn’t mean knowing how to do everything, he says, but at least knowing what questions to ask and who to contact to get an answer.
Resourcefulness means “more” [being] “Harvard graduate or Ivy League graduate,” he adds. “Do you have the capacity to solve this?”
Meanwhile, one of the worst traits that gives Longoria a red flag is assuming he knows the answer without doing the necessary work to make sure the answer is correct.
“Assumption is a very dangerous thing and that’s why you really need to make it clear. [and] Ask questions with humility, he says. “Don’t be afraid [tell] people: I don’t know about that. I am so unfamiliar with this. Can you explain to me how this works?”
These lessons served Longoria well in his career in Hollywood and beyond: In addition to being an award-winning actor and director, he co-owned two football teams, co-founded the liquor brand Casa Del Sol Tequila, wrote a cookbook, and founded his own philanthropy to address economic opportunity gaps for Latin Americans.
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