Class of 1996 Profile: Richard Gurley

As part of the celebration of the 15th anniversary of the YTI Class of 1996, YTI alumni are interviewing each other, discovering and recording what is happening in the lives of our YTI family today. If you are a member of the class of 1996, and would like to participate in this project, contact Sara Toering at sjtoering@gmail.com

Richard is interviewed here by Sara Toering:

After graduating in 2001 from Vanderbilt University with a bachelor's degree in public policy, Richard worked for several years in the Tennessee state government where he researched and shaped policy in the areas of health care and education, resulting in multi-million dollars savings for the state. Richard was promoted three times in three years in Tennessee government and was the youngest person ever to achieve the position of senior legislative research analysis. In 2004 Richard headed to Duke University's Fuqua School of Business where he earned a Masters in Business, and in 2006 he went to work for McKinsey & Company where he serves as an engagement manager. Richard's work at McKinsey allows him to gain content knowledge, build a network of industry, government and nonprofit leaders, and develop his own leadership skills while living out two personal passions—working to reduce the 800 billion dollars of waste in our country's health care system and helping people to develop connections with others. Richard loves his job.

Richard described the impact that YTI has had on his life in two ways. First, Richard shared with me that YTI showed him a picture of what healthy communities should and could be. YTI brought together people from wildly different walks of life and diverse perspectives. It provided an arena where each person's voice and uniqueness were not just accepted but celebrated. Richard's experience was that scholars and staff operated from the mindset that other members of the YTI community held their perspectives for good reasons. Moreover, Richard shared, "it was incumbent on me to listen to others in a way that would help me understand why they think differently than me." This particular aspect of the YTI experience was especially helpful to Richard when he was working in Tennessee state government. Richard found that most legislators indeed want to do what's best for the state. In most cases legislators tended to share the same values but had different assumptions about the ways the world works. Richard found that if he could help align leaders based on their values, rather than assumptions, then sometimes those leaders could end up on the same side of the table advocating together for a cause or program, rather than sitting across the table negotiating. YTI confirmed for Richard that often people who appear different are actually a lot alike at their core.

Richard also described some of the ways YTI shaped his spiritual life. YTI certainly solidified Richard's perspective that spiritual issues are complicated and answers are not easy--YTI created a safe place to ask those questions and discuss various answers. However, Richard pointed out that while he was comfortable asking the questions that he brought to YTI as a teen, he has found that the questions he heard from some of the other scholars and staff at YTI have created a safe space for the questions he has asked over the next fifteen years. Richard's questions about spirituality and faith have evolved--and occasionally he has found himself asking a question that someone else posed at YTI. Richard currently is exploring some of those questions and developing his spiritual practice as a member of Washington Community Fellowship—a non-denominational evangelical church in the Mennonite tradition—a church that he introduced to his fellow 96er and dear friend Lyndsay Moseley. One question in particular that Richard is asking is simply, "how should I live my life?" Richard commented that while this question might sound generic, it is a real and all-pervasive query in his life. Moreover, Richard has found there are so many routes that he could take to try and answer that question—choosing which route to take on a day to day basis is a key part of the question. In this context, Richard is very appreciative for the relationships he formed at YTI, and for the opportunity to be connected with one another again through the 2011 Facebook!

Richard can be reached at rkgurley@gmail.com