Practically Visionary by Steve Uhler
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f there was a Six Degrees of Connection Game for Enlightened Entrepreneurs, Rinaldo S. Brutoco would win it handily, along with the distribution rights. Anyone who can quote Mother Teresa, Ralph Nader, and Deepak Chopra verbatim is a rarity, but the man who was there to hear it firsthand is a force to be reckoned with. Rinaldo S. Brutoco defies easy categorization. Even a casual perusing of his portfolio of accomplishments and titles can induce vertigo: corporate executive, successful entrepreneur, savvy philanthropist, acclaimed author, environmental warrior, accomplished lawyer, radio personality, climate change activist, futurist. Often lauded as a visionary, Brutoco is quick to modify the label. “I’m a practical visionary,” he corrects amiably, in a voice that makes it sound as if he’s earned the title, and he has. Brutoco has been a catalyst within California’s cultural, business, and nonprofit engine for over three decades, and his energy shows no sign of flagging. Finding sustainable and practical ways for business to work on behalf of the common
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good, he consistently finds Wall Street’s sweet spot in the process. As Founding President and CEO of World Business Academy, the iconic Santa Barbara-based think tank and nonprofit business network, Brutoco impacts not only the village he lives in, but the zeitgeist of the world outside. As one of seven children growing up in the then-sleepy town of Covina in the 1950s, Brutoco’s preternatural ability to synthesize entrepreneurship with logic was honed at an early age. “When I was seven, I needed to make some money,” he recalls. “I borrowed my dad’s lawnmower and said, ‘I’m gonna start cutting lawns for money, dad.’ He said, ‘Well, how are you going to do that? You can’t drive, you’re only seven.’ But I calculated there were enough houses on our block, the block to the left and the block to the right that it would be plenty for me to do if I could get a few of those houses... and that’s what I did.” That early alchemy of ambition and logic served as a template for future, more grandiose successes. “I kept being entrepreneurial and pretty innovative, so it always put me in interesting places,”