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 2242: Tomorrow Versus Today

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“Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal.”

CS Lewis wrote: “Happy work is best done by the man who takes his long-term plans somewhat lightly and works from moment to moment ‘as to the Lord.’”  It’s hard to reconcile our long and short term plans and which to take more lightly, but I think I understand what Lewis was trying to get us to remember.  We shouldn’t short-change the need for good and robust long-term planning (we all need a 3-5 year Strategic Plan), but we shouldn’t get so hung up on it that we don’t enjoy and make the most of what we have in front of us today.  I’ve seen this dance many times.  Sometimes someone can’t get out of their own way because they spend too much time worried or caught up with what will happen next.  And other times, there are people who can’t think beyond right now and we beg for them to just plan their work out a little more efficiently or in preparedness for what might hit them next. It’s a balancing act for sure, and one worth pursuing.

Jesus teaches us how to think about tomorrow versus today when He tells us where to store our treasures.  As followers of Jesus we aren’t to sit in the corner and not live out our daily lives.  If that was what we were supposed to do, Jesus would have modeled that life for us, residing in a Temple, in the way of a hermit.  that was not Him. But, He was also quick to tell us that we shouldn’t “store” up all that we have here on earth, but instead focus our talents and treasures to be stored in Heaven.  How do we do that?  Well, we know we can’t take anything with us, but we can make our investments today with time and treasures in those places that will expand His Kingdom.  With a little thought and effort, we can find what belongs to tomorrow versus today.

Reference:  Matthew 6:20 (New Living Translation)