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 1528: Changing Perspectives

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“The farmer plants seed by taking God’s word to others.”

Without a doubt, we see things differently as we age through the seasons of our lives. The technologist/philosopher Kevin Kelly asked recently on his Facebook page for his friends to comment on books that changed their minds.  There was a long list.  I looked at it from the perspective that at different points in time, different books, thoughts, philosophies begin to take hold and shape of who we are.  As marketers and sellers to consumers we recognize this.  When marketing to someone older we don’t ask them to dream about the future, we instead tell them how to preserve and hang onto their present (and past).  And then we wonder why as we age our minds close down and we become more conservative and risk averse.  The same can happen to our companies and organizations if we don’t keep them full of youth and youthful thinking.  The New York Times book section had their own version of an op-ed called, “Do we read differently as different ages?”  The answer by both contributors was indeed we do read differently at different stage of our lives.  And the same can be said of how we listen and speak.  What we must do is challenge ourselves at each step to stay forward and growing, not stagnating or going backwards.

A friend and I had coffee recently.  We talked about reading the Bible all the way through and how hard it can be to do so.  I suggested to him that he read it with a filter or lens in mind and make notes all the way through.  I’ve done this a number of times using “work” as the filter.  This remains the working text (no pun intended) for purposed worKING. There are many filters to use that can help us read God’s Word.  Consider anyone of these:  Service.  Parenting.  Giving back.  Sacrifice.  Relationships.  Finances.   Anyone of these will do.  What is also obvious is that we can experience God’s Word through own different ages.  What we read both chronologically and experientially at one time will be different and still just as alive today as it once was.  All it takes is just digging in, allowing the seeds to root and then rest assured that they will grow…through all the seasons (and aging) of our lives.

Reference: Mark 4:14 (New Living Translation)