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 1142: Current See

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“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”

A friend of mine recently started a job search.  He said he was looking for someone to tell him how to look and dress in a “hipper” fashion.  At first, I thought, “Don’t worry about it” but after thinking about it more, he indeed did need to project a younger and hipper image for the work and the type of company he wants to work. While it seems superficial, how we dress and how our company is perceived as it relates to “youthfulness” can make a difference.  We are experiencing a bit of a “hipster” boom here in the Bay Area that coincides with the tech boom.  The Mission District of San Francisco has become Williamsburg west. South of Market on a workday has a look and feel to it that is unique to the tech industry.  It’s not just that someone is making it all up, it’s a movement that has a distinct look and feel.  If we want to reach this age group then we need to “look the part” to associate with them in a way that they understand and relate. We might call it the “Current see” of this generation.

God asks us to not conform to the world, but He also has put this world around us to be able to reach for Him. Ours is to put on the Armor of God and be ready to go into battle for Him.  There is nothing wrong with being current and being best positioned to reach others…that is a good thing.  Our danger is not that we are out of touch with the world, but that the world pulls us out of touch with God.  We need to watch that we don’t let our “current see” confuse and blur our eternal look. 

Reference:  Romans 12:2 (New Living Translation)

Reference: Romans 12:2 (New Living Testament)