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 1246: Never Lost

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“For the Son of Man came to seek and save those who are lost.”
Patti and I were driving from West Lafayette (Purdue) to the Indianapolis International Airport.  We were talking and I made the mistake of taking one of the bypass roads to get to 465S.  I knew we weren’t far out of the way, but to be sure I pulled out my iphone and had Patti pull up the Map App and hit our current location to view where we were.  It took less than a minute and we were oriented and assured.  We said how hard that would have been even a few years ago.  We’d have gotten off the wrong road, not known where to go and would have ended up backtracking and taking twice as long.  Even the GPS’s of today that come in-car aren’t as quick and as comprehensive as our mobile device maps.  Patti said she was reminded of hearing someone say, “Getting lost will never again be an acceptable excuse for being late to or missing a meeting.”  That is so true.  We now live in a “Never Lost Era” and there will be no going back.  If we know this, what can we do to use this to the advantage, efficiency and maybe even fun in our businesses?  With a little creativity on top of an accessible map, all kinds of things become possible.
I’m pretty sure that God knew that we would invent and develop technology that would direct us and keep us from physically getting lost. Even so, He also made it clear to us that we can, if we don’t make the right decisions in our life end up lost spiritually.  He has given us all the tools and resources that we need to find Him, but they are of no good unless we seek out them and Him..  A Bible that sits on the shelf, a church that is not attended, a prayer time that is not utilized, or a fellow believer who we don’t reach out to, all are there for us, as extensions of the gift and sacrifice He made for us.  Why would we allow one more day to pass that we aren’t directly on the path that He desires for us?  Ours is a God of “Never Lost”, but that only is realized if we do the searching.
Reference: Luke 19:10 (New Living Translation)