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 1530: Perils Of Prosperity

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“When I was prosperous, I said, ‘Nothing can stop me now”.

Oh there is nothing like the days of prosperity.  When we are in them, it is palpable.  We all tend to walk a little straighter and faster with a skip towards the future.  But my how we must watch out.  The biggest of companies have fallen from the perils of prosperity.  Just when everything is going our way, we slip and the fall is a lot further and more damaging from the top.  We might break an ankle from the first rung fall, but we can die from the fall from the top of the ladder.  And the same happens with us when we start to get a little bit more and then maybe accommodate a lifestyle that needs just that much more.  It is in those moments that we might forget the things that we should be doing and instead focus only on what we want to do.  There is nothing wrong with prosperity and no one or any company should be held back, but all should be wary of when prosperity changes our perspective on who gets served and watched for first.

King David knew a few things about the ups and downs of life.  He reigned at the top and at the bottom.  He watched both the good and the bad roll his way.  He warns us of ourselves in the Psalms.  The minute we start to say, “nothing can stop me now”,  then we are putting ourselves in perilous harm’s way.  There is always something that can stop us and we need to stay back and work in that humility.  It is there that we are at our best and can work from a place of bringing glory to God in all that we do.

Reference:  Psalm 130:6 (New Living Translation)