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 1310: “Random Access….”

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“So those who are last now will be first then, and those who are first will be last.”

I’m now back from over a full week in Los Angeles for The GRAMMYs.  Among many events that I attended, none was more cool than the Special Merit Awards where the Lifetime Achievement Awards are conducted. Because I was a part of presenting the first ever GRAMMY Music Educator Award, Patti and I had front row seats and all the inductees filed past us as they came in and took their places, also on the front row.  This was a special year because The Beatles were honored along with Kris Kristofferson.  An interesting thing happened that day that I began to call “Random Access” (partly because of the name of the album that won best of the year).  Here is what happened.  Because our seats were in the walking path of the inductees and all of the “important” people would pass by, I had people who weren’t sitting where we were, come and talk to me, very obviously, so they would have access to the inductees as they passed and their meetings would look “random”.  The conversations that these people were holding with me, was obvious in their length as they were, almost parasitically, hanging around us so they could be in the right place at the right time.  This happened to me again at another event, by another person.  It made me reflect on whether or not I have ever done that or seen others do so.  And, I guess we all have at some point.  When we go out of our way, when in a crowd, to see someone we know, because they are near someone we want to meet, we are doing the same thing. Here is the learning: It is obvious even though we think it isn’t. And, it looks prideful and egocentric.  We might call if “networking”, but be sure and consider all the perceptions before you next look for “Random Access”.

The things of the world can be such great reminders of how God acts just the opposite.  Look no further than when Jesus used His parables to remind us that the least will be first, and the first last.  God doesn’t want us to be looking for “Random Access” with Him.  He gives us each a place, and that place is to be as close to Him as we can.  We get there through our love for Him, our devotion to Him and our seeking a deeper and deeper relationship.  There is nothing “random” about our access to Jesus.

Reference: Matthew 20:16 (New Living Translation)