Bernie Moreno: The Delusional Optimist
During this week’s episode of the Up2 podcast, our host Adam Kaufman interviews business entrepreneur, leader, and friend of 15-plus years, Bernie Moreno. Moreno is candid and authentic as he discusses his atypical upbringing and two journeys - his family coming to America and his professional career. From the beginning of the episode, it is apparent that Moreno views the world through rose-colored lenses.
Moreno was raised to be fearless and excellent – a combination of qualities that led him to be a self-proclaimed “delusional optimist.” At a young age, Moreno moved from Colombia to Florida with his family not knowing any English. The experience of living in a two-bedroom apartment with 11 people taught him the meaning of these two qualities, which he exemplified 20 years later by investing every dollar to his name into an underperforming Mercedes-Benz dealership. Moreno's savvy business strategies and hard-work grew his enterprise to be one of the most successful dealerships in the U.S. during one of the worst economic downturns of our time. Moreno eventually operated more than 15 experiential dealerships, which sold over 30 car brands. It wasn’t a catchy jingle or competitive prices that enabled the Bernie Moreno Company to outperform their competition; it was the customer experience and luxury presence – including ultra-premium Colombian coffee – that defined his dealerships.
“We had to add the element of the luxury experience so that our clients had less reason to leave us and more reasons to come to us. So what we did is we defined [luxury] and we defined it as a million details done perfectly.”
Moreno’s focus on the details created opportunities for himself and the community that might otherwise have been impossible. Moreno invested in himself fearlessly, personally, and financially, to reinvent himself - a decision that, for him, was easy to make. Moreno believes indecisiveness is the enemy of success, that you should make decisions wholeheartedly and go “all-in.”
“You have to make a decision. You have to be confident in yourself. There's certainly a fine line between conceit and convince, but you have to be absolutely convinced in what you're doing. You have to believe genuinely in your inner core that you can accomplish anything and you have to be bold.”
Moreno has followed his own advice throughout his entire professional career and continues to be bold in his new pursuits. Adam commemorates Moreno’s humility and continued remarkable successes. The life of an entrepreneur includes many risks…., and Adam asks whether Moreno ever finds himself stuck. He replies with a message that he embodies and shares often with his peers:
“Fake it until you become it. Not fake it until you make it. Fake it until you become it.”
Eventually, Moreno says, if you fake being confident enough times in a specific situation, you will break through and become untroubled by what once brought you concern.
As the conversation wraps up, Adam questions how Moreno deals with negative experiences, but Moreno can’t remember any. He jokes that his brain is a recycling bin, as he expunges negativity from his memory.
“You cannot live in yesterday. You have to live in the future… there’s only so much brain capacity that we have. So my brain capacity, I focus on today and the future and not dwell on the past.”
Hear more from Bernie Moreno about his unique business insights and career journey by listening to the full episode here, or tune in wherever you listen to podcasts.
Click here to read the full episode transcript.