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 862: Treasure Sharing

purposed worKING No Comments

“He grants a treasure of common sense to the honest. He is a shield to those who walk with integrity.”

Last week Apple declared that for the first time in their history they would pay a dividend to each of their shareholders. Their treasury had grown to so much money that there wasn’t anyway they could ever spend it on acquisitions or research and development, so they had to do as any other company that reaches that apex, they are beginning to share their treasures back to those who have invested their own treasures into the company. It was a remarkable moment and since then their stock has increased significantly which means more people want to own their stock. Yesterday an analyst put a price target of $1001 on the stock. We can all learn a lesson from the sharing of treasures. The lesson is not that every company needs to create a dividend. The lesson is that each business has a treasure to share. Yes, sure we have to hunt for the treasure first, but once we have found it, we should share it with others. Our product excellence, our quality commitment, our service standards, our employee appreciation, whatever it might be that is part of our treasure, we should be sure to share.

I love that Solomon considers common sense as a treasure. We all know so many people that we could only hope they could get a dose of common sense along the way. And, he says that in order for that treasure to be granted, we must be honest. That honesty is precursor to common sense is a thought for us to also treasure. We each go to work to do our best and to do something that we would be proud to accomplish.That is being honest with our talents and time. Of course, once we are granted our common sense, it only makes sense that it should be shared. Common sense is a powerful attribute. Those with a high level of common sense see and sense things that others don’t. They also seem to connect with more people than others. When we wonder why we can’t connect or others tell us that we may be out of touch, it could be that we aren’t using our common sense to look at a problem or situation to be solved. We need to be sure that we have as much common sense as we can and since God promises it to us through Proverbs, then as we should in all that we do, try to be the best and most honest that we can be for Him. Common sense is a great treasure to be shared.

Reference: Proverbs 2:7 (New Living Testament)