Booking “Desperate Housewives” was a pivotal moment in Eva Longoria’s career.
The soap opera star also cemented her place in Hollywood for eight seasons as Gabrielle Solis of Wisteria Lane before pursuing a career as a director, producer and entrepreneur.
During her time on the set of the ABC drama, Longoria learned important business lessons. After working with dozens of directors on “Desperate Housewives,” Longoria tells CNBC Make It that she discovered leadership qualities she loved, and others she didn’t want to emulate.
Another view he refuses to accept: The director is always right.
“I find that it’s not,” said Longoria, 51, adding that the lesson has helped her beyond Hollywood.
Filmmaking with entrepreneurs is about collaboration, he says, which includes hiring and consulting with people who are smarter than you, and hearing from people who have been through similar things – whether they succeeded or failed – and learning from them.
“To [idea] Longoria says, ‘Take care of yourself and you alone can do it,’ it’s not true.
Longoria, who has a new partnership with tech-device company Lenovo that advises small business owners, says the training has played a big role in his growth as a director and leader. He says some of his best mentors are people he has never met or is not close to in person.
“One thing I’ve learned is: You don’t have to know your mentor” to learn from them, Longoria said, adding that finding someone you admire and studying their work, reading their books, or listening to their conversations can be ways to mentor.
“I love Martin Scorsese as a filmmaker, and I’ve never met him,” he said. “I love Oprah and everything she’s done. I’ve met her, but I don’t know her [well]but be a mentor to me.”
Seeking and making the most of mentorship comes down to intelligence, Longoria says, which is one of the top qualities he looks for when hiring or working with people.
“I like people who understand that” and are willing to “do what it takes to reach a solution,” he says. That doesn’t mean knowing how to do everything, he says, but at least knowing what questions to ask and who to pull for an answer.
Ease of use means “more than that [being] You went to Harvard or the Ivy League,” he adds. “Do you have the energy to get it?”
Meanwhile, one of the worst qualities that shows a red flag to Longoria is taking knowing the answer without doing the work to make sure it’s right.
“Speculation is a very dangerous thing, so you need to be specific [and] ask questions” humbly, he says. “Don’t be afraid [tell] people: I don’t know that. I’m not used to that. Can you show me how it works?”
These lessons have served Longoria well in her career in Hollywood and beyond: In addition to being an award-winning actress and director, she co-owns two soccer teams, founded the Casa Del Sol Tequila brand, wrote a cookbook and launched her own philanthropy to address economic opportunity gaps for Latinas.
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