Do you think blizzards are fun? If so, Christina Cassotis might have a job for you. Cassotis is the CEO of Pittsburgh International Airport, and she’s on a mission to make air travel “not suck” and to bring in energetic problem-solvers to help her do it.
Cassotis is one of only three women running a major airport authority in North America. Air travel is literally in her blood—her dad was a Marine fighter pilot who went on to fly for Pan Am. Her people-first leadership has helped transform Pittsburgh into a world‑leading “origin-and-destination” airport, not just a layover to suffer through.
Check out her fun, funny, and inspiring appearance on the latest episode of How Success Happens, and then read her leadership takeaways to help your personal success take off in three, two, one!
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Three Key Insights
1. Turn Stress into a High-Stakes Playground
Cassotis describes airports as portals where everyone walks in already at a 10 on the stress scale, and “one thing goes wrong, man, they are at 11 so fast.” It’s an environment with a lot of moving parts, and one she thrives in. The most important part of her job, she says, is running a critical transportation infrastructure where every day and every decision matters to safety, and also finding fun ways to “actually make it not suck.” She loves the chaos—she calls snowstorms “a blast,” and says plowing runways with “Tonka trucks on steroids” is the perfect job for adrenaline junkies.
Takeaway: Train yourself to see high-pressure situations as your playground, not your prison.
2. Lead with Impact, Context, and Overcommunication
Cassotis says, “Success to me is all about impact,” and she measures that by whether her team leaves things better than they found them and whether “people go home safely every night.” In a business where anything from a roof leak to a global pandemic can hit, she leans hard on contingency planning and “overcommunicating to lots and lots of stakeholders.” The goal is to give everyone the confidence that “we got this.”
Takeaway: Define success by the positive impact you create, then overcommunicate your plans so people trust you when things go sideways.
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3. Build a Career Around What You’re Actually Good At
“I spent a lot of years trying to figure out what I was good at,” admits Cassotism, and finally realized her superpower was “getting at the root cause of what happened and how we can do better.” That problem‑solving DNA is what lets her reshape an entire airport and even “change an industry,” not just run an operation. She’s now on a mission to get more talented people into airports where they can do everything from plumbing to finance with real purpose. If you crave excitement, this might be the place because at PIT, “it’s never the same thing on any day of the week.”
Takeaway: Ruthlessly identify your true superpower, then put yourself in environments where that skill faces big, messy problems every day.
Two Ways to Learn More
1. To hear the full conversation with Christina Cassotis, stream this snack-size episode of How Success Happens wherever you get your podcasts. (Apple | Spotify | YouTube)
2. Arm yourself with the knowledge and know-how to create a contingency plan for yourself and your business.
One Question to Ponder
Cassotis describes blizzards as a blast. What is a task most people run from that you actually love doing?
Email your answer to howsuccesshappens@entrepreneur.com. Your response just might be read on a future episode!
About How Success Happens
Each episode of How Success Happens shares the inspiring, entertaining, and unexpected journeys that influential leaders in business, the arts, and sports traveled on their way to becoming household names. It’s a reminder that behind every big-time career, there is a person who persisted in the face of self-doubt, failure, and anything else that got thrown in their way.
Do you think blizzards are fun? If so, Christina Cassotis might have a job for you. Cassotis is the CEO of Pittsburgh International Airport, and she’s on a mission to make air travel “not suck” and to bring in energetic problem-solvers to help her do it.
Cassotis is one of only three women running a major airport authority in North America. Air travel is literally in her blood—her dad was a Marine fighter pilot who went on to fly for Pan Am. Her people-first leadership has helped transform Pittsburgh into a world‑leading “origin-and-destination” airport, not just a layover to suffer through.
Check out her fun, funny, and inspiring appearance on the latest episode of How Success Happens, and then read her leadership takeaways to help your personal success take off in three, two, one!
