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 1417: Learnings From The Camino (part 5): Leaving Behind

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“The path of life leads upward for the wise; they leave the grave behind.”

I was told a story on the Camino of a Japanese Pilgrim who started on the Camino in Brussels, Belgium with over 40 pounds of weight in his pack. He was a slight man and the pack left him bent over and staring down at the ground as he trudged forward step by step.  Early in the walk he was approached by experienced Pilgrims who told him that he must shed weight and leave things behind that he did not need.  This same conversation happened multiple times during the Camino but he continued to carry the large burden. With just a few days left he was once again approached and was asked how he could have carried all of that weight the whole time and why he didn’t leave anything behind.  He responded, “This is my problem.  I cannot leave anything behind.”  We see this all the time don’t we?  We see people who can’t leave behind material goods, hurts, resentment, guilt or the general baggage of life. It shows up in life and it shows up in work! If we can’t leave the past behind and if we can’t let loose of those things that weigh us down then how can we ever move forward with the speed and nimbleness that business and work demands.

It’s simple but it is so hard. If we could only leave behind those things that keep us from our close relationship with Christ.  We try and carry what God wants to carry for us.  If we don’t trust that God will carry the burdens for us then we will be weighed down and holding ourselves back.  God doesn’t want us to live that life so we just have to have the courage and the conviction to shed and just leave it behind.

Reference: Proverbs 15:24 (New Living Translation)

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