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 2121: Open-Minded

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“Do not stifle the Holy Spirit”

A few weeks ago, I read a great piece by Seth Godin on the importance of staying open-minded as we grow older.  I’ve thought much  since I read this and reflected on my own views and the experiences I have had with those who I know who have grown cynical or closed their minds beyond where I would have expected them to be so. In business we too often run into those who will tell us that the idea has been tried before, or we used to do it that way, or we know that just won’t work.  Those people are dangerous to an organization because they are the ones that with a few words can stifle innovation and new ideas.  We need to listen carefully for those sentences because when we do hear them, we need to quickly understand where they are coming from and how we will ensure that they are not impeding the new from occurring.

And so it is with our spiritual journey.  God did not create us to stand still and not grow.  The Holy Spirit wants to move within us and speak into our decisions and efforts.  The gift and the blessing resides in the assurance that God wants the Holy Spirit to be able to bring us closer to our walk with Jesus than we ever could go on our own.  So, it’s important that we remain open and never stifling of what God wants to do with us.  And here is what I think we can be pretty sure; when we are growing and developing there will be moments of discomfort and the unknown.  It might be the new co-worker, the new boss, the new job, the new location, the new customer, the new program, etc.  But, whatever it is, He wants to move there with us.  Let’s allow Him to do so.

Reference: 1 Thessalonians 5:19 (New Living Translation)