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 1934: Garden Minded

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“It is like a tiny mustard seed that a man planted in a garden; it grows and becomes a tree, and the birds make nests in its branches.”

The New York Times Editorial writer, David Brooks recently wrote on finding and knowing one’s purpose.  What he found from the query of his readers is that most people do not have as their purpose to change or master the world. Instead, most people find joy and purpose in the “everydayness” of life as a parent, a dependable worker, or as a friend.  What most struck me was the value that many people put on gardening as part of the purpose.  I have read many studies about how when we reach mid-life that gardening becomes an interest of many.  Not everyone, but a large percentage begin to look upon gardening as a way of tending, caring, and fulfilling a need inside of us to be a part of things that grow.  It might be that we have finished our child rearing or that we have completed what we can to help a business grow, but I think there is more to it. I think our minds are looking for a way to engage that feels measurable and at the same time purposeful that we can control.  Consider that this is what work has been about since the beginning.  When we keep those things that are measurable and purposeful in front of our employes then our companies become our gardens and we can watch our gardens grow.

From the beginning God put gardens in front of us to consider as metaphors for growth, change and what is important in our lives.  We found creation in the garden of Eden and we were brought into God’s inner mind when we read of the events in the Garden of Gethsemene. And in order to grow, we need to be garden-minded, always thinking of what we can plant, tend, prune, and harvest in and out of our lives. All around us, God provides seeds that He gives each of us to plant and at the same time we face those things that try to infiltrate and invade our lives that look like weeds and life-killing insects. So, the question today is, what garden are we watching over?  Are we being garden-minded at work?  Are we feeding, watering, tending the most important garden we are given…our souls?

Reference: Luke 13:19 (New Living Translation)