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 1508: The Big Screen

“Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”

Some big numbers were recently released.  These are the lifetime statistics of movie franchises for “heroes”:

  • The Marvel Universe – $2.95B
  • Harry Potter – $2.4B
  • Star Wars – $1.9B
  • James Bond – $1.9B
  • Batman – $1.9B
  • Lord of the Rings – $1.6B

From Spiderman to Frodo, we love our heroes.  At the box office, we can’t seem to get enough of them.  What does this say for us in our brands and businesses?  Well, we could say that everyone loves the underdog, the one that fights the good fight against the bad, when the odds are against them!  And, we could say that the good guys who once in power begin to wield that power as an overlord on others, become the bad guys.  Any huge online retailers come to mind? Or any large cable companies?  This is what we must remember as we make an impression on our customers/consumers.  Everyone wants to cheer and see the hero, until the hero starts to act they are one.

Jesus didn’t hold anything back.  He told us, boldly, that He is the way to salvation.  But, after He said that He didn’t go sit on a throne and act like a King or a hero.  No, He lived the life that we want to live out; humble, caring and serving of others.  When everything is going great and we are on top of the world, let’s be careful that we don’t start to act out the part of the hero. Let’s just stay grounded in the ways and spirit of Jesus.

Reference:  John 14:6 (New Living Translation)