History is filled with stories of extraordinary people who’ve defied the odds. But every one of those stories starts with a single step—the belief that something else is possible.
In this powerful segment of #ThroughlineThursdays, our host Neha Malhotra sits down with Cecil Plummer, award-winning CEO and President of Western Regional Minority Supplier Development Council (WRMSDC), to explore the mindset that shaped his life.
You’ll hear how a childhood rooted in limitation gave rise to ambition, and how a teenage obsession with a fictional character helped light the way. At the heart of it? A single belief: Maybe I can.
What you’ll take away:
• Why belief is the foundation of any career journey
• How role models (even fictional ones) shape what we think is possible
• What happens when you choose to fight for your future, despite the odds
This is more than a story—it’s a lesson in mental resilience, hope, and leadership.
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Timestamps:
00:09 – Why belief is the first line of code
00:50 – Growing up with limited expectations
01:10 – The impact of TV role models
01:50 – Pushing against generational beliefs
02:20 – Building the will to fight
03:00 – Why belief always comes before success
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Leave a comment and tell us—what’s your first line of code?
[00:09]
Question: “You say belief is the first line of code. How has that applied to your career and life journey?”
Response:
In so many significant ways.
There’s this military strategy I once read about—possibly in The Art of War. The idea is: if you want to win, you remove your opponent’s will to fight. That stuck with me.
Where I come from, the messaging growing up was often: don’t even try. There’s no hope. Whether it was my parents or the surrounding community, the general belief was that some things were simply out of reach.
But then I started seeing people around me with ambition—saying things like “here’s what I want to be when I grow up.” It made me wonder: what if I could be something, too?
One of my early inspirations was a TV character—Alex P. Keaton from Family Ties, played by Michael J. Fox. He was a teenager obsessed with business, the stock market, politics—and he carried a briefcase to high school. That image stuck. I wanted to be like that.
Now, my dad had a different view. He wanted me to go into the military or work at the post office. Nothing wrong with either, but the message was clear: you can’t do what you want to do. The system wouldn’t let you.
But here’s where belief comes in.
Every finished product begins with a first line of code. Without it, nothing exists. That first line is the start of everything.
For me, belief was that first line of code.
I had to believe in the possibility before I could even try. And once I started to believe, I began to build the will to fight—for opportunities, for growth, for a different future.
Without belief, you don’t even begin.
With it—you open the door to everything.
