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 921: Summer Storms

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“A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped.”

We all know that a summer storm can come upon us within a moment and without warning.  The atmospheric conditions of the summer create storms from all the ingredients that we one moment enjoy and in the next are taking cover away from. The same can happen in business in the summer as the conditions are always present for extreme market volatility.  The summer is the time when we can take our eyes off the ball, spend a few less hours of the day in focus, or are away from the office more than usual.  It’s ironic that in the light trading of the summer that the stock market can be swung up and down with such extremes being driven by so few.  It only takes the right amount of humidity, winds, and rising temperatures and a summer squall can appear from seemingly nowhere.  While we should always be on the lookout for the storms that can come our wayis in the summer that we might want to be a little more cautious and ready.  What business storms can we predict that might come our way this season that we need to be prepared and ready to face?

In Mark’s account of the storm that Jesus calmed it appeared the storm came upon them suddenly and without prediction.  This is the metaphor of life that we can’t ignore.  One day all is great and the next we are without a job, getting a new boss that we aren’t sure we will like, the company being sold, or the market crashes…again.  We can’t predict the storms of our lives so we have to do what we can to be prepared and ready as best we can.  How are we thinking about our life preparations for the summer storms that will come this year?  Let’s batten down our lives with God’s Word, a strong prayer life and fellowship and accountability with fellow believers. Storms will come, we know that.  How prepared we are is totally up to us.

Reference: Mark 4: 37 (New Living Translation)