BusinessReport.com

Full name: Pete Bush

Title: Certified financial planner

Company: Horizon Wealth Management, LLC

Age: 41

Hometown: Louisville, Ky.

Why do you do what you do?

Being a forward-looking person myself, I enjoy seeing the look on people’s faces and their demeanor when I’ve helped them gain greater sense of clarity, confidence and direction about their future.

What is your greatest professional accomplishment?

Last fall, the first client I ever started working with in this business back in 1991 retired. I’ve had a lot of individual client success stories but it was special, and sort of a milestone for me, to see that client through to a successful retirement over these past 18 years.

What was your first job?

Earning money in the summer as a kid helping my dad install swimming pools.

What is the best advice you've ever received?

Our code of personal responsibility as a baseball player under Skip Bertman at LSU - “If it is to be, it is up to me”.

Who do you most admire in the local business community and why?

Woman’s Hospital CEO Teri Fontenot – She’s risen above obstacles that others would just wallow in, she’s a great leader, extremely intelligent, in high demand for corporate and charitable boards, well balanced and organized, very personable and ultimately classy.

If you could have any job other than your own, what would it be?

I’d probably go over and beg my buddies at The Big Leagues of Baton Rouge to let me join their staff as a hitting and infield coach and work with kids on improving their baseball skills. It still comes down to getting a charge out of helping people gain greater sense of clarity, confidence and direction about their future. I’d just do it in baseball for kids.

What is the greatest personal or professional obstacle you've overcome?

My own self-imposed limitations. Once I realized that no one can hold me back or push me forward but the man in the mirror, everything changed and I started to see the world through a different lens.

If you started over, what would you do differently?

I wouldn’t have waited so long to build a professional team around me, even if it meant borrowing money to hire them. That which an individual can accomplish can be magnified exponentially by the diversified talents of gifted team members.

What is your prescription for life?

Find something to laugh about every single day. Start with yourself so you don’t take yourself so seriously!

What book are you currently reading?

Secretariat: Racing’s Greatest Triple Crown Winner

If you could have dinner with any three living people, who would they be? (Authors? Leaders?)

Bill Cosby, George W. Bush, John Wooden

Who would play you in a movie?

What do you do to unwind?

Two glasses of a full bodied Cabernet Sauvignon

What is the most expensive purchase you've made for yourself?

Probably the Ewing Aquatech pool and spa in my back yard. I willingly share it with lots of people, but it wasn’t a total selfless purchase either!

What is your favorite weekend activity?

Firing up the grill and hanging out by the pool with my wife and kids and some of our friends.

What's your theme song?

“My Way” – Toss up between Sinatra’s and Elvis’ versions

What's your favorite spot in Baton Rouge?

I’m a big fan of Kona Grill right now, but it’s hard to beat Tiger Stadium on Saturday night!

How do you take your coffee/tea?

Same in both – one Splenda.

What is your favorite movie? TV show? Band?

Forrest Gump/Seinfeld/Eagles

What is your favorite gadget?

My iPhone

What is something that you can't live without?

My family – at the end of the day you can have the rest of it!

If you could change one thing about Baton Rouge, what would it be?

I would remove the collectively self-imposed limitations that keep us ranked low in many of the good categories and high in many of the bad categories. As a community, we tend to think too small with too much of a “we can’t do that here” attitude. We can do anything we put our minds to and be as good as any other American city.

What is your greatest hope for Baton Rouge?

That we would focus on our strengths and maximize the opportunities nationally and internationally that they appeal to instead of trying to determine and minimize our comparative weaknesses versus other unrelated communities.

What is your greatest fear for Baton Rouge?

That our landscape will continue to be populated by bureaucratic corporate and political leaders whose goal is to extract as much personal value as they can for themselves from their leadership positions instead of leaving legacies of delivering as much value as they can to their company and community on their watch. If that doesn’t change, we will continue to get behind by 20 years and then build to catch up instead of building the advanced infrastructure for where we want to grow to 20 years from now.