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 1984: One Clear Sentence

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“On the day Jonah entered the city, he shouted to the crowds: “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed!”

What makes a convincing and compelling pitch to move people?  In many cases it comes down to the simple statement that says it all and then is delivered at the right time, by the right person. Think of times when this is true and when it didn’t work out as planned.  Message, timing and deliverer.  When all three are right, it works.  When we miss one of these the message falls short or on deaf or cynical ears.  Inside of our companies, lots of people have or will say the same thing but then because there is simplicity and clarity, at the needed time, said by one who is trusted, respected and credible it all comes together.  And such that it looks almost too easy.  Yet, we must be deliberate and well-planned to make this “ease” work.

Jonah marches into Ninevah and within one day’s walk, which was one-third of the way through the city, and with a single statement that in forty days he city would be obliterated, he was able to get the entire population to believe.  Let us remember that without God that Jonah probably would not have been listened to or believed.  But with God, He was able to change them and ultimately save their lives.  We probably aren’t being called today to save someone’s life, but we are being put in places and situations where we can through our witness and lives, be a part of changing the lives of someone else.  Today, let’s be listening to what God wants us to say to others.

Reference:  Jonah 3:4 (New Living Translation)