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 2035: Missions

“‘O Lord, God of my master, Abraham, if you are planning to make my mission a success, please guide me in a special way.

Even the most undisciplined, crazy Silicon Valley start-up doesn’t just start something without knowing what they want to do and where they would like to take the company.  No company gets funded or can hire the best people without being able to describe to their best abilities and most impassioned way the mission that they are pursuing.  More than once I have heard the feedback from investors about a failed financing attempt because the Founder(s) couldn’t articulate well enough a clear, concise and compelling mission.  And if true, who can blame funders for passing on the investment?  It’s worth the extra time and energy to be crystal clear on the what, how, when and where of the mission being pursued.

Abraham’s servant, Eliezer, described what he was being asked to do as a mission.  He knew, that if successful, he would be contributing to the fulfillment of God’s promises to Abraham.  And so he set out not to do a job, but to pursue a mission, and in this case, a mission of God.  What mission do you feel that God is setting you out on today?  Here’s a clue, there is one, if not more than one.  You see, each and every day we are called into His service and He puts many people in our paths to be the person who they see Him reflected.  So, yes, let’s be clear on the mission and then do our best to fulfill it well.

Reference:  Genesis 24:42 (New Living Translation)