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 1444: Your Attention Please!

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“Large crowds followed him wherever he went—people from Galilee, the Ten Towns, Jerusalem, from all over Judea, and from east of the Jordan River.”

I was speaking at a meeting yesterday afternoon.  The night before I had looked over the stage, podium, audience seating, microphones, screens,  etc. and was ready to go this AM.  About 15 minutes before I was to go on I was informed that I would be speaking in another room and I’d be speaking over the lunch hour, while people were eating.  The change almost threw me for a loop as I know from experience how much harder it is to garner and keep the attention of a room of people who are eating, with many of them seated at round tables with their backs to me.  Had I known ahead of time, I met have prepared my presentation differently, but the curve ball was there and I could either step into it and swing for a hit or lean back and potentially whiff.  I made the best of it, amped up my highlights, gave it another gear of energy and it turned out great.  What this reminded me of was that when we need or want to get other people’s attention and be able to hold it, we have to be where they are and play to the situation at hand, regardless.  If we don’t then we have wasted the opportunity.

We have many accounts of the different places that Jesus caught the attention of those who He was teaching and converting.  He was always among the people and he showed up where they were and with his words people listened and then followed Him.  I have many times read His words and wondered how and where he put the emphasis and how he projected for large crowds to hear Him speak, sometimes as they ate.   What was it about Him that he could keep their attention?  Whatever it was like and however it happened, we know that He gave us the example that to get the attention of others and keep it, we have to be where they are, figuratively and literally.  Are we willing to go to where others are to share God’s message or to be available to others when they need to see the love of Christ being exemplified through us?

Matthew 4:25 (New Living Translation)