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 1029: In The Know

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“I am not saying these things to all of you…”

Why is there so much power in being in the know?  The number of hours and the energy spent in any given week where people are jostling for the position of being in the know, would be mind-boggling if it was measured.  I imagine if we each spent a few minutes thinking about the people in our company we would come up with more than one name of a person who has become known for this trait.  Because I am in church on Sunday mornings, I end up using the DVR to catch up on the Sunday morning talking heads shows.  Actually it’s a better way to watch the programs because you can compare what the same person might have said across more than one network interview.  This last Sunday all the focus was on Secretary of the Treasury, Tim Geithner.  What the interviewers were trying to get, at the bottom line, was some kind of information, a piece of data, a word from him, that would put them and their viewers in the know in some way that everyone else wouldn’t get.  It didn’t happen this past Sunday, but we can count on them trying again next week and the week after, etc.  It’s the same in business.  Someone, or a group of people, are always trying to get in the know and one-up everyone else.  We have to be ready and able to deal with this and also not get caught up in the game.  It is a game for sure and an energy-sucking, culture damaging game at that.

In John, Jesus put a few of disciples in the know when he told them how to spot who it was who would betray Him. While it is not good for us to spend out time here on earth, trying to get in the know, as it relates to our Heavenly Father, we can’t ever get enough of what He is trying to say to us.  Why Jesus revealed Himself to the Disciples was because He wanted to show them (again) an example of how they could see the work of God and believe in Him.  That is what He does as we get to know Him better and better.  When we are in the know with God, we see His works and miracles and can only believe that these come from Him.  It’s an amazing paradox and gift He has given us; the more we are in the know – the more we can be amazed and in awe of what He can do. This is the season to get to know Jesus better than ever!

Reference: John 13:18 (New Living Translation)