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 3K235: Gifts Of Work – So Much More Than Meets The Eye

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“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.”

You might say that a gift of work is the Trompe l’oeil of it all.  Trompe l’oeil is when our eyes are deceived with art  to make something look like something it isn’t, as in making something 2D look or be in 3D.  It’s been used since the time of Michelangelo (next time Rome look up at the Sistine Chapel ceiling to see what he did with his painting).  A couple of years ago a bakery released a video of their cakes that looked like inanimate everyday objects.  If you’ve seen it, you are one of the 35+ million people who have. If not, it’s fun to watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1280966608933003264.

Trompe l’oeil proves that things are not always what they seem to be.  So many times in our work we can get caught up in worry, anxiety, fear, etc. thinking that the worst is about to come.  Patti and I were watching the final episode of this season’s The Crown and I could feel the sweat running down the neck of the BBC General Manager when he got called to have lunch with the Chairman of the BBC Board.  He was sure he was getting fired.  Everything he could see and ascertain was that this was the lunch when it all was going to end for him.  I’m not spoiling anything to tell you that things didn’t turn out how they appeared they would.  He received a gift of work in that more times than not, things just aren’t what they appear and they aren’t as bad as we make them out to be.

Today, we might be going into one of those situations that appear on the surface that it’s going to be stressful, or at the worst really bad.  This is when we need to make sure it is “Bring God to Work With You Day”!.  He wants to help us as we try to understand and recognize what is real and what is not real.  He doesn’t practice Trompe l’oeil with us.  He practices just the opposite as He wants to bring us the gifts of understanding and peace.

Reference: John 14:27 (New Living Translation)