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 1498: Focus

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“No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it,but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead,I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Apple designer, Jony Ive was interviewed on the design challenges of the new Apple iwatch.  In the course of Q&A, he said that he doesn’t know the financials of Apple.  It took many by surprise, but it doesn’t surprise me at all.  To be as awesome at something as Ive is at design, it takes extreme focus. When we lose focus, we lose quality and what needs to happen to be excellent.  I know that feeling even here when I get too much else on my plate.  Creativity does not come without focus.  If we want more creativity, then allow more time and opportunity for focus. Maybe we need to be more cognizant of the time that people need to get some quiet to find their focus.  It’s something to think about the next time we interrupt someone else who is deep into thought and attention.

What we focus on, is what we will achieve.  That means that we must focus on the right things that further God’s Kingdom. It doesn’t mean that we can’t be involved in many things, but where we are focused is where we are centered.  If we aren’t paying attention to where our focus is today, then we probably aren’t focused in the right place. We all want to be awesome laborers for the expansion of God’s harvest.  Let’s be sure that we have our focus right today.

Reference: Philippians 3:13-14 (New Living Translation)