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 2162: Looking Forward

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“For before John came, all the prophets and the law of Moses looked forward to this present time.”

Let’s be honest with ourselves.  Looking backwards only does good if we are using the past to inform where we are trying to move to the future. If we hang in the past because we don’t have any future that we want to explore then we should expect that we are going to get passed by and the future isn’t going to be much fun. So, the past is relevant.  The past is important.  The past must though, become only what it is, the past.  There is a reason why we warn of “dwelling on the past” because usually we tend to want to cozy up the to past and pick up the history and warm ourselves with memories.  But, that dwelling doesn’t move us forward and in business that is the only path that is sustainable.

My friend David Brickner sent this for New Years.  It is a quote and poem from Leighton Ford. The quote is from Leighton’s granddaughter who said to the family:

“You can never cross the ocean unless you forget about the shore.”

That puts the past in just the right context.  And that reinforces how important it is for us to move forward.

The poem is also so good that it had to be shared:

                                A Prayer at the End and Beginning of a Year

Lord, give me I pray:

A remembering heart for the things that have happened.

An attentive heart to what I have learned.

A forgiving heart for what has hurt.

A grateful heart for what has blessed.

A brave heart for what may be required.

An open heart to all that may come.

A trusting heart to go forth with You.

A loving heart for You and all your creation.

A longing heart for the reconciliation of all things.

A willing heart to say “Yes” to what You will

                    Leighton Ford

Reference:  Matthew 11:13 (New Living Translation)