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 806: A Special Way…

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“O, Lord, the God of my master. Abraham, if you are planning to make my mission a success, please guide me in a special way.”

We all seek to have an upper hand, a competitive advantage, a secret sauce, or a special way that our competition doesn’t have or has to yet to realize. This quest causes us to move fast, act deftly, and to make investments in areas that are yet uncertain. Why do we do this? Well, we know that if we get someplace first and can stake our ground and that even being there a day earlier makes it harder for others to catch up. So, we spend lots of time and money on R&D just looking for that one advantage, regardless of how small the advantage could be. This search for the competitive advantage is part of what drives us and our businesses and it certainly does keep us on the cutting edge and pushing the envelope, which does make us more innovative and ultimately better. If if feels like the company is lagging or getting sluggish, then it might be time to step back and examine whether we are still seeking that edge and special way. If we aren’t then we should stop and reset to find a way to do so.

Eliezer went off to do the work of the Lord, but still asked to be guided in a “special way”. As we think about our own work and how hard we strive to have an edge in what we do, whatever that job is, we would be better if we also asked God to guide us a “special way”. Imagine what and how we could work if we really turned it over to the Lord to allow us to walk and follow in that “Special way”. If there is something that we need to get done today that we have been holding onto and have struggled to find success with, then that may be what God is calling us to give up to Him and let Him take over the finish line. If we are to work to His glory, we have to allow Him to come to work with us and be there with us throughout all that we do. Consider starting today with the prayer of Eliezer, “O, Lord, the God of my master. Abraham, if you are planning to make my mission a success, please guide me in a special way.”

Reference: Genesis 24:42 (New Living Testament)