By: Krista Powell
Functioning as his own role model, Robert Leigh Pruitt II is constantly in the dark about how he will help someone answer their questions about the future, but he takes immense pride in participating in the journey from A to C.
Pruitt, who insists on going by “Pru,” is a leadership facilitator, helping people answer their own questions about who they are and who they want to be. His job is all about the questions more than the answers, helping people recognize where they are —A— and where they want to be — C. However, his focus primarily lays on the journey in between.
“We understand where you want to get to, we’re just not locked into how we get there,” Pru said.
Pru was born in Queens, New York, and raised in Washington, D.C., as an only child. His father was the 103rd Bishop of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church, and his mother is a retired educator.
He attended the University of Pittsburgh, and at first studied English Literature and Existential Philosophy, but he ultimately received an advanced degree in metaphysical science —dealing with the existence of things and energy.
When he was in high school, he had no idea of what his future career would contain. However, he was always very expressive and participated in drama club, debate team and chorus.
Surprisingly, the debate team wasn’t his style.
“I didn’t care for how we were trained,” Pru said. “It seemed a little too stoic and cookie cutter.”
When asked for advice to give to high schoolers dealing with parents who have a clear vision of what they want their child’s future to be, he went into great detail of how one needs to invite their parent to share their thought process.
He gave an example of a young girl he met who told him of how her parents wanted her to go to business school, but all she wanted to do was open a dance studio. He then asked her what she would have to do in order to accomplish that; and the first thing that came to her mind was knowing how to manage and properly set up a small business, exactly what her parents want her to be able to do.
Pru also spoke on how he views himself as his own role model. He believes that any mentor would spark internal comparison which would ultimately lead to internal doubt and conflict. He said he knows his own backstory and what he personally has gone through. Whether or not you know a person’s backstory, you still naturally have a tendency to unfairly compare yourself to others,
“I know when I’m up, and I know when I’m down. When I look at other people there’s been a tendency to compare, without knowing their backstory or if I do know their backstory then sometimes there’s still a comparison, like how come we have a similar backstory and they are succeeding, they’re growing…That comparison doesn’t work” said Pru.
One of Pru’s greatest internal struggles is discipline. Being an entrepreneur who creates opportunities and answers, he reminds himself to focus on working with what he has at the moment and not his hopes and fears for the future.
“I make no distinction between work and play,” Pru said as his life’s motto.
This motto enables him to live in the journey between A and C, and his upbeat, outgoing attitude continuously reaffirms his motto.
