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 2216: What You See…

purposed worKING No Comments

“He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers.“

The advice given to want-to-be writers is to “write what you know”.  Makes sense for writers.  Last weekend we took in a bunch of art galleries in San Francisco through ArtSpan’s Open Studios Program.  As I was leaving the gallery of the artist, Jeremy Sutton, I saw a give-away paper in a stack called, “Drawing What You See”.  These are the artist’s six drawing tips:

  • Observe Intensely – Look before you draw
  • Mark Meaningfully – Make every mark count and communicate
  • Simple to Complex, Big to Small – Start big with quick expressive marks
  • Draw to Edge, Think Abstract – Depict positive and negative shapes
  • Seek Essence, Be Selective – Choose emphasis, lead the eye
  • Less is More – Suggestion over explication

While I do enjoy doodling (of which I have hundreds of doodles that I have done over the years), I didn’t respond to the artist’s tips because I want to better learn to draw.  What is contained within his message are lessons on the creative process.  One could adapt these for speaking, writing, singing, dancing, filming, etc.  And, I see for our business lessons; just substitute for influencing, persuading, selling and marketing.

Is this not also where Paul is trying to drive us when he says, “He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honor and immortality that God offers”? In order to reach where Paul wants us to be we could make these adaptation:

  • Observe Intensely – Seek Him before acting, speaking or deciding
  • Mark Meaningfully – Make every day and moment count and be in constant communication with Him
  • Simple to Complex, Big to Small – Start in the bigness of Him and be quick to express our Love and the mark He is has left for us
  • Draw to Edge, Think Abstract – Draw as we can to Him. Depict and live the positive while recognizing and avoiding the negative. Listen for the Holy Spirit.
  • Seek Essence, Be Selective – Choose Him as our emphasis, lead others to see Him through us.
  • Less is More – We only need to focus on Him.  The rest could be a distraction.

Happy Palm Sunday coming!

Reference:  Romans 2:7 (New Living Translation)