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 1166: What Is A Rock?

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“He sang: “The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior..”

My best friend and I were running this past weekend and he told me about a very cool meeting that he attended where a facilitator took the group some very thought-provoking exercises.  One involved a bowl of water with a rock sitting in the bottom of the bowl.  When asked about what happened when the rock went into the water, the group responded with a number of answers.  What the facilitator was trying to get at was the impact of the rock on the water and the ripples that get created when a rock is thrown into water.  The conversation then led to what are the rocks that we can throw into waters to make a difference with our lives.  My friend had a very thoughtful insight when he asked the group, “What really creates the ripples?  Is it the rock or the action of the rock being thrown into the water?”  He then went on to explain that in his own life he sees throwing a rock (money, influence, etc.) into needed waters as the easy way out.  Throwing a rock every now and then doesn’t take as much commitment as becoming personally the rock.  I sat with that thought and loved where he took that conversation because I also know that those things that are most rewarding and fulfilling that I do is not the “donation” made, but the “contribution” I make with my time. experience and energy.  When we go beyond giving and turn that into serving, it is then that we become the rock.  This lesson can be applied not only across those things that we are doing for “good” (as it seemed the context was in my friend’s discussion) but also in how we are going about our daily work and life activities. It’s worth the question today…are we throwing rocks or are being rocks?

If we are living out the example of Jesus to bring glory to Him in all that we do, then we must be like Him, like a rock.  Jesus was never about casting miracles or solving other people’s problems without being present and giving of Himself fully to make the difference.  Without doubt, there was none other who ever walked the earth who has created more ripples, but it was all because He became the rock.  Let’s ask ourselves today, are we the rocks that He wants us to be?

Reference: 2 Samuel 22:2 (New Living Translation)