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 1131: Utopias

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“Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and he will give you everything you need.”
Videogames, an industry with which I am familiar, have an underlying design of a Utopia.  What I mean by this is that the game creator is striving to create an environment that is “utopic” in his/her mind. That could be a world of freedoms, or unlimited knowledge, or unyielding power, or in some cases abundant and undeterred fulfillment of desires (good and bad).  Regardless, these worlds that are created are to give the player the sense of being able to tap into and control what is utopia.  We have extended outside of the digital realm as well and we see people now redefining traditions to create their own utopias.  We have technology/company incubators, we have life universities, and we have those who are paying others to not go to college. All of these and many more are all in the quest to create some “utopic” state.  The suspension of disbelief is foundational in videogames.  We used to call that suspension just good “advertising”.  Today, the definition of utopias are all around us and our business has to be able to sometimes draft and follow, other times lead, often author and create our own definition of utopia, and for sure be able to sell into the trend and then shift to be ahead of the next. 40 years ago, utopia looked like a group of people picnicking next to the lake on a beautiful summer day, talking, enjoying each others company, savoring food and drink. And, all together laughing, smiling, and smoking cigarettes.  New utopia definitions can also change things for the better.

If we are believers and followers of Jesus we don’t chase a utopia on earth.  We know that there is no such thing and that to believe there was one would be to diminish the far less than utopia life that Christ lived and gave up for us. To also believe in some earthly utopia would be to lessen our faith in what God has in store for us in the afterlife.  The best that we should do to keep all the things around us in balance is to work and live in the shadow of the light of Christ’s example and love.  If we are known by others as being someone who is always dissatisfied or obsessed with the instant gratifications of life, then we run the high risk of being so self-involved that no one could ever see Christ’s reflection through us. Work can become obsessive in our desire for career utopia.  Be careful and keep close monitor on what it is that you are striving to achieve. While on earth, It likely will not be all that you expect once you get there.
Reference:  Luke 12:31 (New Living Translation)