Rising's professional career began as an associate at O’Melveny & Myers, where he was mentored by diplomat and former U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher.
[2][3] He took a leave of absence from the firm to successfully manage the 1970 campaign of John Tunney who defeated a Republican incumbent in the U.S.
[2] His real estate career officially began in 1973 when he became president of the 5,000-acre Coto de Caza resort community in southeast Orange County.
[6] Rising chaired Governor Jerry Brown’s three-member panel to dissolve the Los Angeles Community Redevelopment Agency in 2012.
Keck Foundation[11] He is credited with having "spearheaded iconic developments that transformed neighborhoods across California".
Cushman & Wakefield chairman John Cushman, who also works closely with Rising's son, Christopher,[3] called Rising "a genius in terms of dealing with people" with mediation skills that would transform "confusion and chaos and translate it into common sense and bring people back to the table who were yelling" to forge consensus among multiple stakeholders from government agencies and citizen groups for large-scale urban projects.