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 850: Freemium

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“But when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, you will receive power and will tell people about me everywhere – …”

When we sign up for entertainment applications and services that are “Freemium” models then we have to be ready for some distraction and interruptions. The “Freemium” model is one that many people subscribe and don’t even understand it is happening to them. We sign up for something that is “free” and we get a “baseline” service or offering and it’s enough to get the job done, but it usually comes with something that is missing or something that we don’t want and if we move up to a paying customer (even if that is a little) then something is either added or removed that makes the service better. As I write this I am listening to a contemporary christian music playlist on Spotify; the latest and hottest music streaming service. I don’t pay for Spotify, I have the free baseline offering which means at nearly every second or third song I get a commercial advertisement. It’s 15-30 seconds of something like “Team in Training” or a promotion for another artist’s new album. I don’t mind really as it’s a small distraction. Also, without out paying I can’t stream on my iphone, but again, that’s not a big enough incentive to make me pay. So, I listen to the ads and move on. the same is true for Pandora, online free videos, etc. It’s the “Freemium” world we live in.

Aren’t we so happy and blessed that God didn’t set up a “Freemium” model for our salvation and eternal life? He didn’t deliver us a baseline offering that we then could pay or earn our way up or into. Instead he did the just the opposite. He laid it all on the line for us and paid it all forward so all we have to do is “download” Him into our life and then let Him have access to our heart. How awesome is that model? As we carry His model into the world with how we live, act, work and share, let’s be sure that we are following His truly free model and be sure that we are loving others under His terms and standards. Think about this today!

Reference: Acts 1:8 (New Living Testament)