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 992: Pitches

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“Don’t let anyone lead you astray with empty philosophy and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking…”

Silicon Valley is hot again and I don’t mean just because it is October, which is one of our quasi-summer months.  What I mean is that the Valley is hot with new innovation, high valuations and lots of capital to be invested.  If there is a slowdown in the economy and business growth, it is not here.  What is happening instead is that the changed technological advancements have allowed for much lower cost and expense barriers to starting a tech company. There are many one and two person start-ups that have been able to find seed capital to get them off the ground and going.  It is exciting to see.  What comes with this though is a “frothiness” that we need to constantly watch and monitor.  What is also of danger is that investment community can also start to get into a place where because they don’t want to miss out on the next big thing that they can succumb to backing ideas that aren’t fully baked or are on the preposterous side. No one has a crystal ball, but we all have to be careful that we don’t find ourselves falling for those who have the pitch that just feels good to hear.

Each and every day we are also susceptible to fall for things we hear and are well-pitched.  Paul uses the words, “high-sounding nonsense”. If we stop and think about it for a second, we probably each have an example of something we have heard just like that recently.  Our world is full of it and we are bombarded daily.  Without a strongly attuned filter, we can just as easily, like anyone else, fall for anything.  God’s Word is the only filter we need.  When we get pitched something that is just too good to be true or is filled with thoughts and concepts that cause us confusion or consternation, then we must turn to God to for the answers. Let’s not fall for the next “pitch” that just comes our way.

Reference: Colossians 2:8 (New Living Translation)