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 543: Hearing Or Listening?

purposed worKING No Comments

There are no shortages in ways we are communicated to today. In fact, the messages come in so many different forms and so quickly, that we have to really work hard to be sure that we are not just receiving or hearing, but really listening. Listening goes beyond just taking in a message. True listening is about allowing something to sink in so that we internalize it and then when we respond or react we are doing so from a place where we have put the message into context and pulled it through our own filters for a comprehensive response. There are few things that are worse than getting back half an answer or finding out that the communication that we worked so hard to create, deliver, and ensure receipt, fell on deaf or uncaring ears. How we listen to others makes a huge difference in their willingness and desire to communicate with us again. Those who listen with both ears, an open mind and heart, and truly think about a response are the ones that people love to communicate and bring forth ideas, etc. We want to be known as those who go beyond hearing and come to be known as real listeners. We can read in Mark Chapter 4 how Jesus categorizes the different stages of listening in His parable of the farmer scattering seeds. We can also extend out the lesson to how we listen to others. If we allow the seeds that are sown to fall not on fertile ground we are losing a message and potentially alienating a person. Let us open up more than our ears and move from hearing to truly becoming listeners.

Reference: Mark 4:14-20 (New Living Testament)