Senior Vice President/Managing Director, Carty, Harding & Hearn
Rush “Buddy” Harding IV sees a lot of similarities between his current life as vice president and managing director at Carty, Harding & Hearn in Little Rock and his former life as a Division I college basketball player.
Both roles require focus, determination and a willingness to go the extra mile. Both also share a highly motivating factor for Harding, that of being underestimated — which, truth be told, is just the way he likes it.
“I’ve been doubted my entire life. I’ve been doubted on my athletic ability, and I’ve been doubted on my ability in this industry,” he said. “Growing up, there was a message board, Fearless Friday, where I would find every negative comment that was made about me. I’d print it out, and I’d look at it every single day, especially when I didn’t want to go shoot 500 shots. I would look at that and read that and say, ‘Okay, well, let’s go prove them wrong.’”
From the outside looking in, it is hard to imagine anyone questioning Harding’s ability or talent in both the athletic arena and that of business. The grandson of a three-sport high school coach, he is also the son of one of the more well-known financial professionals Arkansas ever produced, who co-founded Crews & Associates in 1979.
Still, he insists that outside of a few select people led by his wife, Rachel, the noise coming from those waiting for him to fail in business was at times deafening.
“Whenever I came over here everybody was saying I couldn’t make this work, that I wasn’t smart enough, I wasn’t good enough, that I couldn’t do it,” he said. “That flipped a switch in me, something I hadn’t accessed in a very long time. It flipped that switch, and I was kind of just like, ‘Well, watch this.’”
Following his basketball career at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, he briefly considered coaching as a profession. Instead, he went into the financial services industry, joining Crews & Associates in early 2008. In 2022, he moved to what was then Carty & Co., now Carty, Harding & Hearn. There, he not only services clients himself but plays a big role in training other members of the team, putting to use his coaching skills and giving him an outlet for the leadership chops he showed on the court.
“With some of the younger guys here, I try to meet with them once or twice a week to go over phone calls, to go over what they’re doing right and give them praise, and then talk about what they’re doing wrong and try to help them correct it,” he said.
“Mostly, I take more of a stance of lead by example. The only time I take a lunch is when I have a meeting with somebody who requests for me to go meet them at lunch. Otherwise, I’m at my desk. I mean, I turn lights on, first one here, then the last one to leave at 8, 9 o’clock a lot of times. For those who pay attention to my work ethic, I hope it motivates them and teaches them that if they want to be successful, that’s how they need to pursue this job.”
At 40, Harding is just entering his prime in the business, which means he will likely be a force in the market for years to come. He said no matter how successful he gets, however, he never wants to get too far from the grind of getting better and proving his doubters wrong as the primary octane for his success.
“I mean, I’ll work 90-hour weeks and 100-hour weeks, and I’ll worry that I didn’t do enough, that somebody else is outworking me and working harder than I am,” he said. “The human race was built to walk uphill, and that’s where I was able to find myself, and that’s what I enjoy so much about life, this industry and this business. That’s just the kind of mindset from athletics and basketball that I was able to bring into the industry.”
SEE THE FEATURE BELOW AND IN OUR SEPTEMBER 2026 ISSUE OF AMP
READ ALSO: Hotel Vin Opens in Rogers
