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 1081: House of Cards

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“…No, you are the one, O Lord our God! Only you can do such things. So we will wait for you to help us.”

When Netflix came on the scene, they basically ran Blockbuster out of business.  Before Netflix we thought nothing of walking the shelves of the movie rental store and saying to each other, “Have you seen this?”.  Now, just a few years later, that seems so long ago and such an antiquated way to watch a movie at home. Since the introduction of the home DVD delivery model, Netflix has already reinvented it self twice.  Once was with the on-demand streaming of movies and the other was two weeks ago with the introduction of their new self-produced series, “House of Cards”.  When Netflix first announced that they would be underwriting their own series, Hollywood took notice because they could see a new competitor in content creation, not just content distribution. But little was written or contemplated that they would create an even more significant new model with how they would deliver the series.  What happened at the beginning of February was that Netflix leapfrogged everyone by providing all episodes of the first season at the same time.  No more waiting for a week to get to the next installment.  If I want to sit and watch the entire season on a rainy weekend, I can. Or I can chunk it into any size of consumption that I want.  It is brilliant and has shifted the power of the consumer/viewer even further into the driver’s seat.  This house of cards they have built will stand and the question is, just how long it is going to take for other content creators and distributors to do the same.  The TV networks have to be wondering how they can respond.

Our God was the first to make everything He wants us to have available, but not without a price.  That price is that indeed sometimes we do have to wait and accept.  We aren’t always waiting on God though, we are also waiting on our own readiness to be able to accept what God has to offer.  In my own life I am learning more each day that the delivering of God’s blessings aren’t dependent on Him, they are dependent on me.  He is like a broadcaster who sends out the signals continuously.  My ability to pick it up and tune in is all with me. God never has, nor ever will provide us a house of cards that can easily be felled.  His is a firm foundation and does indeed counter the world we live within with a lesson of waiting for the greatest return and reward.  In God’s time, when things come too soon, they may not be of God.  Let’s consider today what we are expecting of Him and what it is about our willingness, or not, to surrender to his timing that may be holding the blessing back. 

Reference:  Jeremiah 14:22 (New Living Translation)