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 536: The Distant Future

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Part and parcel to working is the concern and thinking about our future and our career plan. It’s a funny thing that we feel like with our work that we have to be thinking not only about our current job, but also about the next one and the one after that and that we get advice to be planning our career at all times. What can happen though is that we become so caught up in the thinking about the distant future that we lose the perspective of the job we are in and being sure that we do the current job well and get the most from the experience, etc. We are not good at living in the moment and being very objective about our current jobs as ones that we can enjoy and from which we can gain great satisfaction. I have a friend who is never in the moment in his job. He is always thinking and talking about the next job and what he can do to further his career and he has little to no regard for the ramifications of him always focusing on the distant future. He can’t see that he is not giving his all to the company where he now works, is not investing in the people around him like they need and want him to do, and drives his friends and his family a bit crazy with not settling down. I am not sure what it is that drives this distant future focus versus living and working in the present, but he is not alone in this. Many people are like this. As I was reading the book of Ezekiel, God gives Ezekiel many instructions on what to tell the different countries and leaders about what is going to happen to them in the distant future. This is where the words “distant future” struck me as we cannot ignore what is coming and we must plan and be cognizant of the future, but we can’t obsess on it either and miss the life that we have been put here to live. Being present for those around us and being okay in the job we are in today can yield many benefits and positives. Today, as you go through your day, think about how much time you are spending truly in the present and getting the most from it, versus worrying and obsessing about the distant future. It may well be that today, if focused on, could be of such value and worth that it blocks out all concern of the distant future.

Reference: Ezekiel