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 866: GPS

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“For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

The company, Garmin, and others, have built strong businesses on being on the cutting-edge of utilizing and maximizing GPS (Global Positioning System). Originally developed for the military and government use, this technology has found its way into the hands of consumers and changed the way we work and live. An exaggerated statement you may say? Well think of these applications that we now consider “routine”. There’s no excuse to ever get lost in a car with the built in GPS or a Garmin or Tom-Tom that you can carry with you. If that is too much trouble then look no further than your smartphone for a compass, a map, directions, all located from where you are using GPS. Social applications like Foursquare, Facebook, Highlight, Glancee, Twitter, etc. can all now geo-locate to where we are so that we can better share and receive information and relatioships. As a distance runner I no longer concern myself with getting lost or not knowing how far I have run for my training. On my wrist, no larger than a fashionable wristwatch, is all the technology that I need, and all emanating from GPS. It’s amazing how far and fast technology has come and even more exciting for where it will go. I remember a movie quote from long ago that said, “Wherever you go, that’s where you are.” In today’s day and age, and with the technology that we each can access and utilize in our businesses and lives, it was never more true.

In my Sunday School class that I teach I recently taught on GPS and how like a compass, GPS can help us find our “True North” and to never be lost. But in this case, I was talking about GPS as the Global Positioning System, I was talking to the kids about GPS as “God’s Positioning Sign”. As I built on the metaphor I taught the children that what God gave us in Jesus and His death and resurrection left us with the tools to keep our lives centered and fixed upon Him. Along with His Word, our prayers and the fellowship with other believers, God gave us the ultimate positioning sign at the cross. If ever we doubt on where we are, or feel lost or strayed from our purpose, all we have to do is reposition ourselves with the cross in front of us and we will be heading in the true direction towards home. How blessed we are to have our own personal GPS so to have the assurance that we will never, ever be lost.

Reference: John 3:16 (New Living Testament)