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 2011: Create-Curate-Present

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“A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”

While at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC this weekend I listened to an Artistic Director lay out, very simply and clearly, the three distinct approaches of an arts institution.  And these are very applicable to much that any of us do in business.  We can “create”.  That is that we are responsible for something from idea to completion.  It is ours to creatively live and die by.  Or, we can “curate”.  That is is to take the creation of someone else and then add to it to bring more into context or timeliness.  And finally, there is what we “present”.  Presenting is using our platform, our store, our delivery system to take to the consumer what is ready to go and our marketing and selling is what makes it better.  And all three are as important as each individually.  We have each area inside of our companies and organizations.  Knowing the difference and being able to focus on strengthening each can make us more competitive.

Each day we create, curate and present God’s message and make the choices of how we do so for Him. We are His creation.  Our lives, our choices, our words, our reputations are the curating of His message.  And each and every moment we can present God’s love to others.  As I write this, I am sitting in Washington, DC and all around us (here and where you are) we are struggling to understand what is happening in our society and what we should do.  Jesus told us as He made us the curator and presenter of His love.  We are to love our neighbors and that is what I feel I must do today in response to all the attacks and hatred.  So, as we walk into the office and are confronted by whatever, let’s remember that God’s love is what can defeat all other forces.  May we today live up to what He expects of us as His creation; curate positively our lives to others; and present His message in a way that provides hope and optimism through His love.

Reference:  Matthew 22:39 (New Living Translation)