Author Archives: Rusty Rueff

About Rusty Rueff

Rusty Rueff, author of purposed worKING. Rusty Rueff is the former Chairman Emeritus of The GRAMMY Foundation in Los Angeles. He most recently completed the successful 16 month leadership role as Coordinating National Co-Chair for Technology for Obama (T4O) for the reelection of President Obama and ten-years of Board service and President of the Board of Trustees of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Corporately, most recently Rueff was the Chief Executive Officer at SNOCAP, Inc. until the acquisition of the company by imeem, Inc. in April 2008. Before joining SNOCAP in 2005, he was Executive Vice President of Human Resources at Electronic Arts (EA) from 1998 until 2005. He was also with the PepsiCo companies for more than ten years, with the Pratt & Whitney division of United Technologies for two years, and in commercial radio as an on-air personality for six years. Rusty holds an M.S. in counseling and a B.A. in radio and television from Purdue University. In 2003 he was named a distinguished Purdue alumnus, and he and his wife, Patti, are the named benefactors of Purdue’s Patti and Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts. He is a corporate director of Glassdoor.com and runcoach. He is the co-founder and Executive Committee Member of T4A.org, serves on the Founding Circle of The Centrist Project and a founding Board Member of The GRAMMY Music Education Coalition. He is also the co-author of the book Talent Force: A New Manifesto for the Human Side of Business. Rusty and his wife, Patti, reside in Hillsborough, CA and Charlestown, R.I.

day 2247: Fidget Spinners

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“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

Yesterday, they were the hottest thing on the planet.  Convenience stores were selling them faster than Slurpees and hot dogs.  Teachers were starting to put together rules for the coming school year to outlaw them in classrooms. And then, as fast as they came, their popularity dropped off the side of a cliff.  Why? Well, if you have ever played with one you know that after some fidgeting and some spinning there’s not much more to do with them.  Fun for a while, and then boring.  It’s the course of so many products and services.  They look like they will rule the world and then they are gone.  Need I say, MySpace? What we create needs to be built to solve a lasting problem or need, or what seems like a huge idea will be the next fidget spinner.

Our tendency to bore quickly is in our human nature. And it can happen in all areas of our lives.  We can become bored with process, people, things, places, tasks and responsibilities. We can even bore with good things like going to church, or reading God’s Word, or praying.  When we bore with God’s commands we are also fighting with a stronger force that wants us to drift further and further into other things that at the time seem more interesting. The golf course looks enticing on Sunday morning. That summer blockbuster novel is a page turner and wants to be finished before we have our Bible time.  Headspace reminds us that it is time to meditate but we don’t remind ourselves it is time to pray.  These are my struggles but they might be yours too.  And they are all a reminder that we can be our own worst enemies and end up, if we aren’t careful, just fidgeting and spinning.

Reference: 1 Corinthians 15:58 (New Living Translation)