This former U.S. soccer player built a $20 billion-a-year company. Now, he says resilience matters more than talent—and points to Lionel Messi as proof

Jim Kavanaugh never became a global soccer icon like Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo. Unlike Messi and Ronaldo, one of whom still graces our screens on the World Cup stage, Kavanaugh’s playing days ended decades ago. But the former U.S. national team player does share one distinction with the two soccer superstars: They’re all billionaires.

Six years after representing the United States during the 1984 Summer Olympics, Kavanaugh traded the soccer pitch for the boardroom and co-founded World Wide Technology, a Missouri-based technology giant that generates $20 billion in annual revenue as of 2025. Like the two soccer players, the 63-year-old said he like many other entrepreneurs are able to build a successful business because they share the same qualities that separate elite athletes from the rest: a willingness to outwork the competition.

“If you want to be great—you can’t put in an average or sub-average level of input and work ethic,” Kavanaugh told Fortune.

“If you’re willing to put the time and the effort in and you have the desire to continue to learn, and you apply that in areas that you actually enjoy doing— the odds and the probability of you being successful is very good,” he added.

For Kavanaugh, though, talent alone has never been enough. The people who ultimately succeed are the ones who continue pushing through setbacks while making........

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