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 482: “Getting The Call”

purposed worKING No Comments

Who hasn’t fantasized about getting “the call” that offers us the dream job of our lives? Maybe that dream was to be something totally different than our work today; to be an actor, a musician, a sports player, a published author, etc. We have all had that dream and even in our current occupation the flicker of the dreams survive as we would love to get the call for the big promotion, the transfer, or the assignment of a lifetime. The question is if we got “the call” would we really be ready? Many times in my career I have had to sit and talk to someone and reset their expectations as their dreams and their capabilities were so far apart that they were working with very false expectations and were being set up for a big let down. There is nothing wrong with being a dreamer and I firmly believe that if we don’t dream, we won’t reach our full potential, but it is also a reality that we must be as much of a preparer as a dreamer. We have to attain the skills, the experience and the knowledge to be ready when the call comes in. Without the readiness, if the call does come our chance of success will be much less. We must also be ready with our attitude so that we can respond in the right way and step up with full energy and confidence. In 1 Chronicles 28, David challenges Solomon as he calls him to be the next King. These are words that we can apply to our own lives to help us get ready for our own call; “And Solomon, my son, get to know the God of your ancestors. Worship and serve him with your whole heart and with a willing mind. For the Lord sees every heart and understands and knows every plan and thought. If you seek him, you will find him. But if you forsake him, he will reject your forever. So take this seriously. The Lord has chosen you to build a Temple as his sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.” What a great lesson embedded in that call from David to Solomon; seek and know God, serve Him with all we have, be serious in what we have been given, be strong and work hard.

Reference: 1 Chronicles 28:9-10 (New Living Testament)