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 1458: Who Can Deliver The Goods?

purposed worKING No Comments

 “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish….”

How often do we overlook the ideas and contributions of the youngest among us because we filter their words, observations and contributions through the lens of their age or experience? When we do we might miss something extraordinary that they have to offer.  And, for those who work in startups where everyone is “young”, don’t think it doesn’t happen there too.  Does the intern get invited to the brainstorming sessions or given the extra license of speak up?  We miss out when we think that the young or the inexperienced can’t contribute.  I know of an example where a CEO of a large well-known retailer hired a fresh college graduate to report directly to him, with the same meeting and status as the rest of his direct reports, because no one else in the company could formulate and articulate a strategy and plan to reach and service millennials.  I take my hat off to this CEO for not getting tangled up in the status quo of age and experience.

God uses over and over the example of children for the kind of faith and love we are to have.  It was a little boy who had the goods for Jesus to multiple to feed the 5000.  With God, there isn’t any seniority or status that comes with experience.  We are all given the same amount of faith and the same gift of salvation.  If we accept and follow Him then it is all there for us, regardless.  That means that just because we might be new in our faith, or not as deeply rooted as we wish were were, that we still can be effective witnesses and examples of Christ to others.  If we are holding back because we don’t think we have “enough” or aren’t spiritually “old” enough, then we are missing what God has in store for us.

Reference: John 6:9 (New Living Translation)