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 523: “Once In A LifeTime”

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We are experiencing “baseball fever” here in the By Area. The San Francisco Giants are in the World Series and are playing their hearts out, and winning (I write this will respect to my Texas readers who are cheering for their Rangers). Every office water cooler group here is talking about the Giants. Orange is the color of the season. Every where you go there is a reference about the Giants. Last night’s game was one for the record books and as I listened to one of the post game radio shows, the host remarked, “this game was a once in lifetime game”. “Once in a lifetime”, is a phrase that gets bantered around when sports teams are playing in post-season championships or when we get a chance to go see something remarkable or unique by way of travel or experience. I am sometimes marveled by the number of times we hear that saying; “once in a lifetime”. Why I am struck by it is that we should actually be saying it every day, all day long because each thing we do, no matter how routine or mundane is also “once in a lifetime.” Even the assembly line worker who pushes the same button all day long could, if he/she so chose, determine that each time the button was pushed it is a once in a lifetime moment because no two times will that person be thinking the same thoughts, or the environment around them be exactly the same, or can they as a person (who is aging and changing) be exactly the same in two different moments of time. So, each and every day at work and out of work is filled with “once in a lifetime” moments. Then the question is what do we do with these days and times to make them important and memorable. David gives us some insight into this in Psalm 72:18 as he writes of the end of his lifetime; “Now that I am old and gray, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me.” David never wanted to let a moment go by that he was not bringing glory to God. As we go through a day of our own once in a lifetimes, let us observe and be aware of how we are making the most of this time. Let us be an example and model to others so that each and every day that we walk with our Lord and allow Him to be our purpose, that we are making the most of our own “once in a lifetime” opportunities.

Reference: Psalm 71:18 (New Living Testament)