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 3K197: The Garments We Wear

purposed worKING No Comments

“…Put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.”

I was reminded of Malcolm Gladwell’s book, “Outliers”. Among the many stories that he tells, which all reinforce his message that each of us gets to where we are in life through the assistance of others and circumstantial opportunities, he goes deeply into the details the the rise of the number of successful law firms in New York City that grew out of the children of first-generation immigrants who were garment makers. This story about the number of garment workers’ children who grew to be the educated and leading lawyers is in itself fascinating. That we all, or at least the many successful and talented people that Gladwell chronicles in the book, are the by-products of others, whether those people know it or not is even more fascinating.

This not unlike the fact that we are certainly products of the prayers that went before us. A Grandmother or Grandfather, a teacher, a parent, or someone at church who prayed our names, have all influenced and been a part of our lives. The part in Gladwell’s book about the garment makers’ offspring reminded me of the Bible verse in Isaiah 61:3 that says we are to “put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness”. A garment of praise? a spirit of heaviness? What is Isaiah trying to get at with us? The spirit of heaviness is one that we put on ourselves like a heavy coat that weighs us down. When we feel sorry for ourselves, or let ourselves feel lonely, of when we become ungrateful, or when we become selfish. These are all the things that can lead to our spirit getting loaded up and loaded down. The only we can break that spirit is to replace the heaviness with the garment of praise. A garment of praise is right there with us at all times, starting with us thanking God for all of the great and wonderful things he has done for us. The Bible calls us to fill our minds and think on the things that are wholesome, good and right. When we are feeling burdened and weighted down with all of the heaviness that comes with this world, we need to be sure that we rise above those emotions and that we start thanking and praising God for the good things in life he as given us. And with these praises and this thankful attitude we will be donning our garments of praise and squeezing out the doubtful thoughts and burdensome questions. God gives us the assurance that He will rescue us from any situation. Likewise, He will removes any spirit of heaviness that we feel, if we will only accept His garment of praise. Like the garment workers who worked so hard and so diligently to rise above the forces that would have kept them down, we too, as believers, need to be the first to shed the heaviness and welcome the gifts of the Lord and be the most thankful of people. In this short Thanksgiving workweek, start today with putting on the garment of praise and thankfulness!

Reference: Isaiah 61:3