“You must create your own luck,” Ellis said with a certain conviction and confidence that filled the room. James Ellis, the Dean of the USC Marshall School of Business and the former CEO of Porsche Design and Port O’Call Pasadena, is the perfect example of a man who has paved his own path to success with a lot of hard work and a dash of good fortune.

Throughout college, Ellis always believed he would become a professional golfer. It wasn’t until his second semester of his senior year in college that his father convinced him to apply for graduate school. Ellis had two problems: not only were his grades below average, but he also needed a letter of recommendation. “In three and a half years of college I had never been in a professor’s office, so I was a little nervous,” Ellis reminisced. After introducing himself to his business law professor and talking about the topic of leadership for nearly half an hour, the young James Ellis was shocked at what happened next. On the spot, the professor picked up the phone and made a call to the dean of Harvard Business School saying, “I’ve got a guy in my office and I think you’ve ought to take him in your class.” Within a few months, the acceptance letters rolled in from Harvard, Wharton, Stanford, and UCLA. Was this pure luck, or was there more to the equation?

Ellis’ belief is that it was a little of both. He explained that, “You have to put yourself out there. You must create your own luck. You have to put yourself in a position to succeed or fail.” When Ellis walked into that professor’s office, he came equipped with his knowledge and experiences as a young leader, and when preparation met opportunity, Ellis instantly moved on to a new path in his life. » Read more: Professional Pursuits: James Ellis, Dean of the USC Marshall School of Business