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 1204: Early The Next Morning

purposed worKING No Comments

“So the Israelites left early the next morning and camped near Gibeah.”

I am not just a morning person, I am an “early the next morning” person.  The distinction and difference is that when I have something important to get done, I will wait until early the next morning to work on it or to get it completed.  Against the advice of those who tell us how to rest and sleep best, I take what I have to do to bed with me, let it sit in my mind, knowing that early the next morning I will be able to tackle it in the quiet before others rise and as the sun and the birds welcome the day. It is when I work best and when I am clearest in my head. Early the next morning also allows for me to be done with that matters most before the mundane and the urgent take over the day.  I remember distinctly once taking this approach to a problem I was trying to solve, only to find Patti standing at the door of my office at 3:00AM asking me what I was doing and me being wide-awake telling her that I had figured out what we (me and others) had been trying to solve.  Later that morning when others got to the office I had more prepared and solved then they imagined could happen.  It was a very good morning and has always reminded me of what can happen “early the next morning.”

The Bible is filled with many references of “early the next morning”.  Morning is a magical and special time of the day. Our bodies are rested and our minds  renewed.  It is why we also have many Biblical references that we should spend our personal time in prayer and Bible reading early in the morning. What do you think tomorrow could bring if tomorrow, you were commit, as an “early the next morning” time of preparation for the day in front of you, but not doing so alone, but asking God to start this day with you?  I suspect that  early tomorrow morning would be the start of an amazing day!

Reference: Judges 20:19 (New Living Translation)