“I am a hedonist at heart,” says Cowell. “I love the uncertainty and the challenge. I’m also exceptionally competitive and ambitious. It is relentless, relentless, relentless. I can’t help it. Sometimes I’m glad, sometimes I wish I wasn’t like that all the time. I can never switch off.”
From the time he was a young boy, Cowell knew what he wanted to do; he wanted to conquer the music industry and nothing or nobody was going to stand in his way. Starting off in the mailroom of a music studio, Cowell knew he had a long way to go before achieving his dream, but he was willing to put in the time and the energy he needed to. “If you want to make money, you’ve got to work for it,” says Cowell. Slowly but surely, he was working his way up the corporate ladder.
“From the mailroom, I had come a long way,” Cowell explained in his 2003 autobiography. “I had more than 80 million albums to my credit, some 30 number one singles, and a hundred Top 30 singles. But still one thing eluded me. I wanted to have a career in the United States.”
Making a name for himself in the U.K. music industry was not enough for the ambitious young Cowell; he wanted to conquer the even bigger American market. But, the success of “American Idol” did not mean Cowell was simply going to put his feet up and enjoy the fruits of his labour. Through a combination of creativity and ambition, Cowell continued to put together winning arrangements that would knock the industry’s socks off; Il Divo’s debut album sold millions of copies worldwide and forced the likes of popular rapper 50 Cent off the Top Billboard charts.
Ambition and competition are the name of the game in the entertainment industry, but that is exactly how Cowell likes it. Speaking about the victory of Kelly Clarkson over her competitors in the very first “American Idol”, Cowell says, “They all hate each other deep down, but they’re not going to say it on camera. Ask Kelly how many congratulation e-mails she got from the other contestants. Probably zero. But that’s the music business. In a positive way, I like that. I like the fact that people enter the show because they might win.”
Winning, for Cowell, was an inevitable part of his drive to success. After his partying days as a young boy in boarding school, few had much faith in Cowell; even fewer could have imagined him going on to become a multi-millionaire. But, that is exactly where his relentless ambition led him.
Despite the success he has achieved, Cowell continues to set high goals and work towards them. “If I don't find an international artist this year, then I will have failed. That is the one thing that interests me,” he says. “It is a personal thrill for me to play a role in giving the best young singers…a shot at realizing their dreams.”
Lesson #2: Be Relentless
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