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 544: Intentionally Quiet

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As we go into the last month of the year there becomes a bit of a sprint between now and whenever we head off for the holiday break. Not only do we want to complete all of the work items that must be done before we take off for the holidays, we have the rest of our life activities to finish before the big day. If we are not careful we will find ourselves scrambling all month long just trying to get everything done in the “St. Nick” of time. Yet, there will be others around us who don’t seem to get ruffled at all and they will go through this season at a steady pace and come across the finish line looking as though they never broke a sweat. What is the difference and how do they do it? Every person has their own coping mechanisms that work for them. There isn’t a one size fits all answer but I will offer that getting some quiet time to be intentional each day will go a long way in making this month be one of wholeness and potentially also joyful in how work is done. What I mean by getting intentionally quiet is to commit a few minutes each day, either in the morning or in the evening before going home to look at everything that is to be done for the month and get it all on a piece of paper and slot the work into times for completion. For example, you know you have the annual wrap-up letter that has to be written. It’s at the top of the to do list but it is going to take time and other things keep getting in the way. Don’t let it just sit there, put a time on your calendar for writing it. Block off that time as sacrosanct. Use that time for that only. On your to do list, write that time next to it and then know that you have planned when to get it done and go to the next item and do the same. Each day that you do this you will see that you have plenty of time to get it all done and time to spare. But without the quiet time to get intentional it can all get away from us. The same is true of our spiritual lives. We must get the quiet intentional time to keep pace and grow. If we lose this time and intentionality we slip and fall behind. David says, “I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him.” Today, before the end of this day, let’s find that quiet time to get intentional for our work and God’s work in us!

Reference: Psalm 62:1 (New Living Testament)