The Deets

• The Place: River City Coffee in South Austin
• The Hour: 1:00pm
• The Cup: Iced tea for both of us

Background: That fabulous Shennandoah Diaz strikes again. When she and I enjoyed Cup #2, she gave me Ruben’s name and said he’s doing amazing work in film and that he’s a must-know Austinite. So after a bit of coordination, we connected.

If I were to tell you the story of a great media maverick whose experience was in music and event promotions, magazine, radio, television, film and every type of social media who had worked for such titans as Sony, MTV and Apple and who was now running his own successful film and media company would you imagine someone just twenty-eight years old?  Or would you be as surprised as I was?

Ruben Cantu certainly has an impressive CV, particularly for someone so young.  Strangely though, these highlights are dwarfed by all the other amazing things this guy has going on.  He is a man with a clear vision and sense of purpose that drives every action he takes.  It was humbling to sit with him and to hear his story and I wondered if (and hoped like hell) he’d inspire me to uncover my purpose so I could live with this same intensity and sureness.

A few years back, Ruben was at a crossroads.  He’d achieved a lot professionally and had learned a vast amount in a relatively short span of time but he wasn’t feeling fulfilled.  He not only questioned whether he was having a positive effect on the world around him, he worried he was a part of an industry that was having a negative impact. He had watched the now famous Stanford commencement address Steve Jobs delivered and was left with the question, “Why am I playing it safe?”

This questioning set in motion a series of events that eventually led to Ruben taking all that valuable knowledge he’d acquired and finding a way to use it for good.  Ruben says to me, “It’s like Jeet Kun Do.”  “Huh?  Jeep what?” I offer back.  “No, Jeet Kun Do.  You know, Bruce Lee.”  “Uh, he’s the martial arts dude, right?” – this time just to myself so as not to appear a total moron.  Instead I just look at him and pray he keeps talking.  Thankfully he does.

Ruben tells me about Bruce Lee’s martial arts philosophy.  One piece of which is “Absorb the good, reject the bad and add something that’s uniquely you.”  Ruben explains that you can learn something good from anyone/anything and he took this philosophy and applied it to his professional life.  With his vast skill set and unwavering ambition, he cashed out his Apple stock and created CORE Media Enterprises under which are CORE Media Strategies, which is changing the way corporations tell their stories and Coreageous Films, which is the platform for creating powerful documentaries often focused on telling the stories of the forgotten and voiceless.

At CORE Ruben is able to help companies tell their story in a compelling, thought-provoking way that allows them to connect with their audience.  Ruben says this is all about being a great communicator.  He doesn’t make company videos, he tells stories about people working together to accomplish cool stuff.  He tells me it can be tough to get a company to see that this is the objective.  They are very stuck in their heads and have an idea of what they want to achieve.  What he teaches them is how break down their value proposition into a message their audiences can relate to and connect with.  Ruben says, “It’s simple. Provoke thought.  Foster change.”

Story telling is what Ruben will tell you is at the heart of everything he does.  I would add “change agent” to his title.  Ruben wants to be a part of positive, lasting, social change.  He says, ” I may not be able to give an organization I believe in a million dollars, but I can help them tell their story and create emotional videos that move others to give.”  And really, isn’t this the better approach?  Certainly more sustainable. From my experience in the non-profit world, I know first-hand the incredible value that each donor represents.  When someone connects to an organization or a cause they become a part of the story.  Their gifts may be financial, but they may also give their time, their expertise, they will likely be an ambassador for the organization – telling the story in their own words to the people that matter to them.  That is powerful, and priceless.

So what does a guy like this do every day that he believes contributes to his success?  For Ruben, it’s about mindset and surrounding himself with the right people.  He tells me it was his family that gave him his heart, but that his entrepreneurial drive comes from within.  He understands that when he focuses, he has the power to achieve anything.  “If I play to win, I may not always win, but I’ll know I’ve given it my all.”  Ruben reminds me that you can’t rely on talent alone.  “Practice and due diligence always trump talent.”

Success becomes contagious. Rubens says, “I recognize that I didn’t get here alone.  People helped me and it was a community effort, but I had to do my part. The vision was large enough for all of us to gather around and contribute to it.  That’s the magic!”

Every day, Ruben says, he works on being the best he can be.  His toughest competition is himself, always striving to give everything he has.  He makes a point  to connect with people daily. Ruben says, “In this world, there are great people. There aren’t “ungreat” people, but I would say there are people on the path to greatness.  The thing is, if we help each other out we can all get there together. I’m still on my path to greatness and every day I push myself and hold myself accountable.”

We are all on a journey – a path to greatness.  I often find myself seeking solitude on the trek believing not only that I can do it alone, but that it will be easier.  I need people, like Ruben, to remind me that the point isn’t arriving somewhere.  The magic is the journey and the joy is the people who join you.  Every day our stories unfold.  New adventures, new plot twists and new characters.  My goal has shifted from writing a beautiful ending to allowing the story to unfold on its own. Ruben is a master at telling his story and today forward, I will master telling my own.