"My story is about how aviation motivated an average man to do masterful things," declared Nick A. Caporella, the 64-year-old chairman and CEO of National Beverage Corp. of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

While many corporate executives ride in the back of business airplanes, Caporella's passion for piloting the company's jet himself not only makes him unique among his peers, it keeps him mentally sharp and helps him project a confidence and enthusiasm that inspires and motivates his staff and his customers alike.

"Anything that someone does that needs to have a success tag on it requires a tremendous amount of passion," asserted Caporella, who, at age 43, became one of the youngest persons ever to receive the Horatio Alger Award, which is given to people who have pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps. "You have to love what you do and get something out of it. In my company, aviation is an igniter of spirit."

Beginning with his use of a single-engine Bell JetRanger helicopter to build his construction business during the 1960s, Caporella has embraced flying and has used business aircraft to grow his enterprises. "Aviation has always created special opportunities for me."

In today's competitive beverage business, Caporella uses a fleet of aircraft -- including a JetRanger, Cessna 402, Dassault Falcon 10 and Falcon 2000 -- to help National Beverage, which is best known for its Shasta and Faygo branded soft drinks, compete with Coke and Pepsi, the industry giants.

"Beverages today are commodities, and retailers are consolidating," explained Caporella. "Customers are accustomed to buying things on sale. What sells beverages is what happens at the point of sale -- pricing, packaging, how they're displayed -- so smaller beverage companies have to use other tools [to compete].

"Today, not only do you have to have the right price, programs, brands and ingredients, but you also need a rapport with retailers. And there's no better way to build that rapport than to personally pick up a CEO in your Falcon 2000. That's the best way in the world to do business -- people like to do business with people they like."

With 16 beverage plants scattered across the United States, Caporella often schedules six-day-long trips, during which he and a team of a half-dozen associates from National Beverage's Florida headquarters visit the company's various operating subsidiaries, as well as customers and acquisition candidates.

"I am either motivating someone to do more, motivating myself to do more, or convincing someone to buy more," Caporella explained.

He also has flown the company aircraft extensively in Canada, the Caribbean, Mexico and Western Europe and hopes to fly to Eastern Europe in search of new business opportunities.