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 1254: Hesitations

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“And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering”

I believe that the adage is, “Necessity is the mother of invention.”  I remember being taught in pee-wee baseball that “Hesitation is the mother of disaster”.  It seemed true back then but as I have grown older, I would say that it is far from true in life.  Like the eskimos have many names for snow, hesitation can be thought of as 1) Good- hesitation that allows one to stop, think, sort their head and weigh out the consequences of a decision or move.  2) Bad – hesitation that comes from fear and uncertainty and removes the  possibility of making a move, even when calculated. 3)  Worst – hesitation that gets one stuck with no possibility of moving forward but with extreme anxiety and stress from not having done so.  So, hesitation as defined in scenario 2 and 3 are recipes for disaster, but scenario 1 can save us from disaster.  The question is, “How do we know the difference?”  The antidote lies somewhere in experience, trusting one’s gut and instincts, relying on trusted advice and counsel and not allowing pride, hubris or arrogance get in the way of hearing that calm and caring voice within us.  It is an art, not a science.  It cannot be taught without real-word learning lab experiences.  But, mastering hesitation can be a game-changer and differentiation from good to great.

In our faith we all will find points where we waver.  On the surface it seems silly to do so, but in reality, hesitating and wavering is what is being reinforced all around us each day. What can we do about it?  We must countermand those messages with God’s promises and assurances by staying close to Him.  He doesn’t want us to live a life of hesitation.  He wants us to live a life of confidence and assurance. We are not alone in our hesitations.  All around us are believers in the same place.  We can strengthen each other by showing God’s mercy and grace when someone else stumbles or wavers.

Reference: Jude 1:22 (New Living Translation)