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 1334: Here Today…Gone Today!

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“And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.”

It caught my attention that the SAC Capital Advisor trader, Mathew Martoma, who was convicted of insider trading, had his MBA from Stanford rejected. He had earned that degree in 2003, but Stanford has now taken that degree back.  I actually didn’t know that a university could do that, but it makes sense to me.  By breaking the trading laws, Martoma proved that his education didn’t sink in and he never learned the lessons taught.  I suspect he is learning his lesson now.  This is a stark reminder that what we think we have today, can be taken away from us tomorrow if we don’t respect and honor that with which we know and keep in trust. A brand’s reputation can be tarnished forever if we don’t care for it and cherish it closely. An employee that we need, can can leave at a moment’s notice because we overstepped our boundaries and didn’t do all we could to keep them happy.  A partner won’t  renew because we didn’t treat them like a real partner. A customer never comes back after the salesperson refused to truly listen to them. The old adage is, “Here today, gone tomorrow”.  In today’s world, it’s more like, “Here today, gone today”.

Thankfully, “Here today, gone today”, is not God’s way.  His way is “Here today, here eternally”. That is, if we believe in Him with all our heart, mind and soul. God asks us to give all of ourselves to Him and in return He will do the same with us.  As we close this workweek, let’s reflect on how, where and when have we given our all and where have we instead, held back from Him? The things of this world are so temporal.  Whether it be jobs, relationships, activities, health, interests, and what feels ordinary around us. To stay on solid footing and to be who God wants us to be for Him, we need to prioritize less those things that are only here today, and instead focus more on those things that are here forever.

Reference:  1 John 5:11 (New Living Translation)