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 916: Timing

purposed worKING No Comments

“So let’s not get tired of doing what is good.  At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up.”

Timing is one of those elusive but critical components of success.  In so many businesses it is just and only timing that can make the difference between success and failure.  I was complimented the other day for having run a business that was “Before its’ time”.  While I know it was a compliment, each time you hear that you always wonder, “What if?”, and “What could we have done differently”.  The answer might just have been, “timing” and who can really control that?  So, what is the advice that we can take from the lesson of timing?  Well, other than the pointed and not terribly helpful, “Just get it right”, I’d say the lesson would be that I’d always rather be too early than too late. Being early means there is innovation, initiative and R&D in the DNA of the company. Being late is well, just not good, and companies who are late to the market should be evaluating themselves to understand what it is that has kept them from leading and getting there earlier.  “Better late than never” doesn’t bode well for business unless you are bringing something to the market that is extraordinarily better.  Let’s see which category Microsoft’s new tablet will fall within.

God is always telling and teaching us about timing.  Our mothers and grandmothers inevitably told us somewhere along the way that things happen, “All in good time”.  I suspect that phrase at one time originated from, “All in God’s time”. That is what we must learn to accept, even if it is hard to understand and follow. Paul tells us in Galatians that the harvest will be reaped, “At just the right time”. So, yes, our lives are clearly all about timing, but what a promise and assurance we have when we know deep within ourselves that this timing in divine and appointed for each of us.  So, let’s not fret or get too concerned about what appears daily to be misses or failings of human timing, but instead entrust that the right timing will be all in God’s time.

Reference: Galatians 6:9 (New Living Translation)