Architects of Success: 3 Leaders Who Started With a Vision and Built an Empire

When it comes to investing, it can be easy to bury our noses in balance sheets, cash flow statements, and analyst ratings while trying to divine the next homerun stock. In the process, we often forget that companies are real, tangible things run by real people.

What a business looks like on paper matters up to a point. However, there is no substitute to knowing who is actually running the companies that we own. Over the years, a few CEOs have demonstrated their ability to focus on what really matters and translated their unique vision into profitable investments for shareholders.

Below, Motley Fool contributors highlight three such leaders and what made them stand apart. Read on to see why Elon Musk of Tesla ,Howard Schultz of Starbucks , and Robert Iger of Disney have been true architects of success for their companies.

Tim Beyers (Disney) : In March, Disney will celebrate 10 years with Bob Iger at the helm.

Plenty has changed since the dark days of 2005. Back then, the late Roy Disney had been leading a campaign to " Save Disney " from Michael Eisner, a long-tenured but controversial mogul. Iger stepped in to replace Eisner as CEO, kicking off one of the most transformative decades in Disney's 92-year history.

DIS data by YCharts

Iger deserves much of the credit for these gains. After all, he and his team are the ones who convinced the board at Disney to spend nearly $16 billion to acquire Pixar Animation (2006), Marvel Entertainment (2009), and Lucasfilm (2012), effectively securing a top position in young boys entertainment after years of appealing mostly to girls. Consumer products sales are up materially as a result -- from $2.215 billion in fiscal 2005 to $3.985 billion in fiscal 2014, according to datasupplied by S&P Capital IQ .

Disney is also spending less and doing more at the box office. Operating margin in the Studio Entertainment Group is up from 2.76% in fiscal 2005 to 21.28% last year on the strength of two Marvel movies . Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Guardians of the Galaxy combined for over $1.48 billion in global box office receipts and nearly $400 million in estimated gross profit.

Mix in a profitable Interactive Division producing hit games such as Disney Infinity , a dominant and growing Parks group , and strong Cable results from the likes of ESPN, and you have the makings of one of the most impressive media empires in the world.

Not bad for a business that, just ten years ago, needed saving. Iger has done that and more.

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Architects of Success: 3 Leaders Who Started With a Vision and Built an Empire