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 2217: Consistency

“I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

It is Patriots Day, but even more than that, it is the day for the 121st annual running of The Boston Marathon.  The Boston Marathon is always run on Patriots Day, which is always the third Monday of April. There is a nice consistency to this event.  Maybe the greatest representative runner of The Boston Marathon was Bill Rodgers. Rodgers won the 1979 Marathon and has been a fixture of the New England running scene since. The famous poster of him capturing the ’79 victory says, “To be a consistent winner means preparing not just one day, one month, or even one year – but for a lifetime.”  No truer words could be spoken about running, but also about the world of business.  We can’t expect to have a long and productive career if we aren’t always preparing; looking out into the future and building the daily endurance to face whatever it will be that challenges us next!

Paul, our resident Biblical athlete, extended the finish line for us beyond this life and tells us to prepare to race right into eternity.  And recognize that He doesn’t say that we should start at death, but we start today and then press on!  So, it is with both Paul and Bill Rodgers that we can be inspired and encouraged for consistently preparing today, tomorrow, the next and on and on until we receive the ultimate prize!

Reference: Philippians 3:14 (New Living Translation)