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 2240: Not, Just Because I Can…

“You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything.”

“Because I can”, says the boastful.

“Because I can’t”, says the realist.

“Because, I won’t”, says the disciplined.

Which are we in our work?  I’ve found that those who do, because they can, come to rue their actions and decisions.  Those that say they can’t, know more about themselves.  Those who say, I won’t, are the ones who best use their resources, time and energy.  To know what I won’t do means I know what I can and can’t and I have decided. Only knowing what I can do and then doing it is what gets us in trouble.

Paul goes further as he teaches on morality.  He lets us know that by doing what we can, without self-discipline, we can end up being beholden to those actions and ways until they control us. Let’s consider today that in how we act, treat others, and work that just because we can is probably why we shouldn’t.

Reference: 1 Corinthians 6:12 (New Living Translation)