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 2173: Fitting Replies

“Everyone enjoys a fitting reply; it is wonderful to say the right thing at the right time!”

The right word, at the wrong time, is many times as bad as the wrong word at any time.  Why is this?  More often or not it is because the one delivering the word is not at all in-tune with the emotions or the environment of the one receiving the word. We’ve all been there.  We’ve delivered what we thought was a good word only to have it rejected because the receiver wasn’t ready to receive.  In sports the coach usually calls a time-out, if for no other reason to have the undivided attention of the those who need to hear.  We  don’t always get that luxury and we may be delivering a message over the phone, on email, or texting across time zones, but regardless, we will be better at the “fitting” part of our words and replies.

I love God’s Word.  If for no other reason, our life direction can be set through the teachings and lessons that are given to us.  Jesus seemed to always have the right word, at the right time and for even those who weren’t ready to receive, He had a way of recognizing that through empathy always bringing the context back to something that others could relate and be important to them. So, that is our challenge as we try to find a way to bring God’s Word to others with whom we work and live.  Speaking to others in a way that is “fitting” is what we can ask God to assist and a way for us to grow in our representation of Him.

Reference: Proverbs 15:23 (New Living Translation)