The Equation To Live By: Love + Fun = Success

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About the Episode

CEO and Agent of Hope, Rusty Gaston, explained the passion required to have a successful and fulfilling career and shared how he discovered that music has the power to change the world.

Fostering Connection. Creating Change. Embracing Resilience. 

As CEO of Sony Music Publishing Nashville and a successful entrepreneur, Rusty Gaston provided insight on his journey from an ambitious Belmont student to a prominent leader in the music industry, and described how his connection with others and the love for one’s craft can create the perfect equation for success.

“Success can be defined in a lot of different ways, but when you're a dreamer, when you are filled with hope, when you're an entrepreneur, you feel the weight and the heaviness of that on your shoulders,” Rusty shared. “And to chase down that dream, you've got to love it. You've got to love it with all you are.”

This episode covers…

• How cultivating connections with other creatives, mentors and ambitious people nurtures the drive to do meaningful work.
• The power of music to heal, inspire and fill people with the hope needed to persevere through life’s trials.
• How giving and receiving hope is the most empowering part of pursuing a career and interacting with the world.

Meaning Through Connection

Discussing his story of starting out as an intern and kickstarting a company for a popular artist, Rusty described how the encouraging environment inspired him to do the best work possible.

“There was a philosophy of that publishing company being a place where we would encourage and motivate and promote songwriters to do their best work and the business plan that I had put together. It was a remarkable journey of success and love and respect for creators.”

Rusty continued to illustrate the beauty of creatives sharing the love of their work and described his connection with those who dream big and make it happen.

 “There is a bond between dreamers and people filled with hope because they know how much those dreams mean and how hot they burn inside of them,” Rusty explained. “I have an empathy, a sympathy, a connection with other dreamers to know how important that dream is, and then that creates a relationship that turns into a trusted support system of one another.”

He elaborated on the importance of building and maintaining relationships and forming lifelong bonds.

“Relationships matter because dreams matter. When we're in relationship with one another, we've maybe shared information that makes us feel closer,” Rusty described. “And if we feel closer to one another, then we work a little extra harder for one another.”

Change Through Music

Talking about his lifelong connection to music, Rusty illustrated the power music has to motivate and inspire people on a large scale.

 “You have listened to certain songs, and they have comforted you in times of maybe loss or need. You've listened to that same song, and it has filled you with strength and power and hope. I deeply believe with all that I am, that songs have the power to change the world,” he said.

Digging deeper into how music has affected him personally, Rusty explained how many difficult moments in his life were lifted through music, and how they filled him with hope. 

“I'm very lucky that there are fewer days that I wake up still hanging on the anchor that may have pulled me down the day before, but when that happens, I go to music, I go to the songs that fill me with hope, that remind me of why I love this.”

 Rusty constantly strives to instill the same hope within his career and pour into others the way he has been lifted up.

“If in my job, I can encourage a songwriter to do their best work, they can create songs and music that changes the world for a better place, that creates hope, that creates encouragement for others and moves forward that mission of hope, and that is what keeps me going and fires me up every day.” 

Resilience Through Hope

Rusty dove into his relationship with hope and laid out the perfect equation to live a successful and happy life.

“To want to be filled with hope, man, you got to have a lot of fun. I want to be working with people doing what I love, surrounding myself with people that I love, and I want us to be having the time of our lives,” Rusty pointed out. "And if we're doing that, the only possible outcome is going to be success. I call it the equation to live by: love plus fun equals success.”

Rusty shared sources of hope for him throughout his day-to-day life and encouraged listeners to find bits of hope even during darker moments.

“I try to listen to other leaders that have messages of positivity and hope because it helps just center me on what is possible. And unfortunately, every day is not going to go the way we want it to, but tomorrow could.”