Anything Goes | Scott Kendall

What characteristic do you most like about yourself?
That I am naturally, deeply fulfilled by great art, music, literature, nature, and the simple things of life.

And what do you like least?
Time constraints to achieve all the things I want to do with my life.

What was the last book you read?
Simultaneously, Joseph Campbell’s Pathways to Bliss and Chanel and Her World, with my 10-year-old daughter.

Who would you most like to meet?
Jefferson, Goethe, or Leonardo.

What are you going to be when you grow up?
I can’t imagine life without an insatiable desire for growth, for constant rebirth, for the new adventure.

Who has most inspired you?
Joseph Campbell shattered the world open for me.

Who is your favorite artist?
In the various realms, Raphael, Mozart, Shakespeare, and the greatest—nature.

What are you most proud of?
My family and close friends.

Why Nashville?
The people I meet come here specifically to make something of themselves, to make their unique dreams and ideas for life come true.

What do you like most about the city?
Monet first sought tranquility to be prolific and then found Giverny. Nashville has an unusually high quality of tranquility, which allows us to become a world force. The greatness perhaps comes much from our landscape.

What do you like least?
As a balance to our great Symphony Hall, a wish might be for a world-class Getty or Wallace Collection (and with an adjoining Ritz Carlton on the Park). We have the potential.

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
More time with friends.

An embarrassing moment you would most like to forget?
Meeting my new neighbors after calling the pound to pick up a sickly stray cat, which was their family pet.

Are you happy with where you’re heading?
Yes, the richness and vitality of the adventure continues to build. I’ve come to realize that it’s the daily journey, the daily performance that is the true great reward.

What’s your mantra?
One’s greatest responsibility is to be true to one’s own vision.

What’s it like being you these days?
We live in the most exciting period the world has ever known, with unprecedented opportunities—an exhilarating time of immense growth, discovery, and creation.

What talent would you most like to have?
To express in Annie Leibovitz-style photography, as Leonardo expresses in paint, the great mystery and wonder of the universe that exists within each of us.

What is your most treasured possession?
A fifteenth-century Flemish tapestry my wife gave me for my birthday early in our marriage.

What is your greatest regret?
Not awakening to the inexhaustible potentialities of life until 28.

You have five minutes left to live; what are you going to do?
Embrace my family and celebrate our life together.