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 3K212: On Top!

“The Beatitudes”

When you are on top of whatever list or scoreboard, it is great.  Taylor Swift must be feeling that way this week as “she became the first artist in history to have all 10 of the top slots on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. The tracks are from her new album, Midnights.” Imagine being any musician who works their whole life to make any chart looking at this and thinking, “Wow”.  Or, they might be thinking, “I will never make it, so what’s the point?”.  The journey to the top, if we ever get there, is a long one.  Taylor Swift has been honing and perfecting her craft for over 20 years now. What’s also important to remember is that this type of fame is fleeting.  Bono, from U2, talks about it in his new book and what it means to accept that he and the band may never get back to the top of the charts.  And, for him, that’s okay.

Possibly, there is no set of verses more so than the Beatitudes that should ground us in the understanding that it is not about the lists, the charts, the scorecards, etc. when it comes to how God puts it all in His perspective.  They tell it like it really is:

“God blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
God blesses those who mourn,
    for they will be comforted.
God blesses those who are humble,
    for they will inherit the whole earth.
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
    for they will be satisfied.
God blesses those who are merciful,
    for they will be shown mercy.
God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
    for they will see God.
God blesses those who work for peace,
    for they will be called the children of God.
God blesses those who are persecuted for doing right,
    for the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.

God blesses you when people mock you and persecute you and lie about you and say all sorts of evil things against you because you are my followers.  Be happy about it! Be very glad! For a great reward awaits you in heaven.”

Reference: Matthew 5:3-11 (New Living Translation)