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 1531: Strength Of A Tree

“For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters…”

Patti and returned last month from an anniversary trip (our 20th wedding anniversary) to The Low Country of Georgia and South Carolina.  We loved every minute of the history, tradition and beauty.  We also were dazzled by the preservation of nature and none more so than gazing at Live Oak trees that had stood and grown in the same spot from some even pre Revolutionary War days.  Imagine what those trees have stood over and if they could speak what stories they would tell.  Oh to be as strong personally as a Live Oak, or to have a company or organization that could stand as firm and strong as one of those trees. There is much to want to emulate and it begins with what tree we are desiring to plant, where we plant it, and how we grow, prune and keep it safe and sound.  What tree best characterizes your company, or even yourself today?  As the ancient Chinese Proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.”

The Pastor of my church delivered a message at our annual Men’s Retreat.  He spoke of the Jeremiah tree and it’s characteristics that we each can each look to have:  Growth, Beauty, Strength and Productivity.  There is much to learn from a tree.  We just have to want to be one and make sure that our roots are planted deeply, where they should be!

Reference: Jeremiah 17: 8 (New Living Translation)