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When Heathrow CFO Javier Echave tells us that one of his greatest career lessons was learned from being passed over for the airport\u2019s CFO position, we wonder whether we misunderstood him.  

He continues: \u201cIt was then that I learned in the most painful way that securing my own succession to the CFO office was dependent on me making myself redundant.\u201d

It was a little more than 8 years ago, when a sudden CFO departure, prompted Heathrow's CEO and executive board to appoint one of Echave\u2019s colleagues as \u201cInterim CFO.\u201d

For Echave, who had held a succession of senior finance and operations roles, the appointment was an undeniable slight.   

\u201cI took it badly,\u201d recalls Echave, who adds that for some time he had perceived himself to be \u201cnumber two\u201d within Heathrow\u2019s senior finance executive ranks.   

According to Echave, after having been passed over, he received some critical advice from the chairman of the airport\u2019s executive board.

\u201cHe said to me, \u2018No one questions your potential and no one questions your strengths, but if you don\u2019t face an interview while believing that you can make a position yours, there\u2019s no chance that you ever will,\u2019\u201d remembers Echave, who notes that he then began to think hard about whether others might see him as having a lack of confidence.

Still, given the extant circumstances, the chairman\u2019s insight was not likely to benefit Echave\u2014or so Echave believed, until the interim CFO exited the position within the first 300 days, leaving a second interim CFO opening that Echave then subsequently filled.  

Fortunately for Echave, the opportunity allowed him to once and for all address the chairman\u2019s comments.

\u201cI determined that my confidence had this Achilles heel, which was that people were questioning it and wondering whether I had become too senior too early,\u201d comments Echave, who reports that ultimately his wife helped him to understand how revealing his passion for the job would better display his self-assurance.

\u201cShe told me, \u2019You cannot beg for this\u2014you have to be humble, but you also have to show that you are ambitious as well,\u2019\u201d remarks Echave, who emphasizes the power of ambition.

He explains: \u201cThis allowed me to bring out my confidence and express why I really wanted the job\u2014and within 6 months, I had it.\u201d \u2013Jack Sweeney