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 1013: Memes

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“…Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.”

Having just come out of the political season, I learned much about memes.  I watched and participated in the creation of memes that went no where and a few that caught wind and became a part of the social media jetstream. But, it’s not as easy as putting together a few words, sticking a hashtag on it and then getting a bunch of people to tweet or share it around.  There has to be much more thinking and consideration behind it before it will become something relevant.  Timing and personal adoption are two things that I learned are so important.  A thought before or after its’ time goes no where.  A thought that others can’t adopt and internalize also will be die before it gets going.  But, when the two come together, lightning gets caught in a bottle. Our internal and external messaging about our companies and organizations are the same.  Timing and personalization, if focused on intently can be the difference between a successful product launch and a failure. We should always be asking, what is the right time and what do we need to do to have people make this personal?  Get those two right, and there is no stopping.

What is our own personal meme that we are trying to create?  If someone had to sum it up today what would it be?  What we need to know and recognize is that God’s timing for us right now and always.  He wants us to be living out His example today, tomorrow and ongoing.  So, there is no debate on whether or not we should wait.  Sometimes we might feel like we are not good enough or ready to live for Him.  This is the same thinking that keeps us from starting to exercise until we lose a little more weight.  Irrational, but how we as humans think. So, if timing should be clear, then how is that we make this thing of our lives being lived with purpose something that is personal to others?  This is where Paul gives us the power of our example.  This is in some ways is our most powerful tool for the Kingdom. Our meme for God is in our words, our actions, our love, our grace and yes, the purity that we can pursue. Memes are infectious and memes are powerful. You are a meme for God, if you want to be.

Reference: 1 Timothy 4:12 (New Living Translation)