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 2039: Unlikely Pairings…Until They Pair

purposed worKING No Comments

“Don’t take any money in your money belts—no gold, silver, or even copper coins. Don’t carry a traveler’s bag with a change of clothes and sandals or even a walking stick.”

I read yesterday that Mark Fields, the CEO of Ford Motor Company, joined the Board of Directors for IBM. At first blush, it’s a head-scratching move.  What does the head of a car company have to add to the Board and CEO of a technology company?  But, if you look under the hood of Ford, you will see that Ford, and all of the car companies are moving more and more into technology and data information because soon, cars will be totally run and driven by software.  Ford has been a quiet leader in bringing software services into the car.  If you test drive a Ford you will see many more software and technology bells and whistles than ever before (exception being the Tesla).  I’ve long said that cars are not only forms of transportation, but instead battery-powered consumer products.  When thought of that way, the unlikely pairing of IBM and Ford makes perfect sense.

What King has no palace or even a bed of His own?  What King owns nothing?  What King spends His days, meals and nights with the poor, downtrodden, sick and weak?  No King, that is, other than our King!  From the beginning of His ministry Jesus was an unlikely pairing with those He chose as His Disciples and those that He decided to minister to and hang out with.  It just didn’t make any sense for one who was the King of all people, until it made all the sense in the world.  Jesus came for the sinners of the world and sin knows no status or socioeconomic differences.  He came to not build and bolster the rich and the powerful.  Instead, He came, living with nothing, instructing His Disciples to do the same, to build up the weak and poor, so that we, forever in time, would understand that it is in our weakness, in our imperfection, and in our lowest points that we find that He is the perfect pairing for all of us!

Reference: Matthew 10:9-11 (New Living Translation)