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 474: Mood Swings

purposed worKING No Comments

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that everyone of us at some point or another has had a mood swing. A mood swing is when we are in a great mood at one minute and then a terrible mood at another, or the other way around. These mood swings can be caused by any number of triggers and I would also venture to say that work and our jobs can be a major contributor to these. Many times companies and organizations also go through “corporate” mood swings. A great piece of news or success and the entire organization can be walking six inches off the floor. A bad report, a failure, competitive news, etc. can also swing the mood of a company to the opposite extreme and spiral down lots and lots of people. These past few years have seemed like one bad piece of news after another and the general mood of the country has been dampened. The significant financial hit that almost all of have taken has contributed to a sour mood overall. But, did you know that we are to not let our mood swings get in the way of the work we are called to do? Of course we know that, but it never hurts to be reminded. Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 7:30; “Happiness or sadness or wealth should not keep anyone from doing God’s work.” Paul tells us this because mood swings are not just felt by us, they are evident, felt and seen by others. We all learn how to read other people and we know when to approach them, or not, based on the mood they are in on any given day. Paul is telling us that we can’t let our mood swings get to us so that it lessens our effectiveness with other people who are watching and trying to understand what it is inside of us that gives us the peace and calm. Today, give yourself a good check-up and consider whether or not you are letting your mood swings control you or you are controlling them. Since God wants to come to work with you, bring Him along today and ask Him to temper the mood swings and bring you the even-keel that you need.

Reference: 1 Corinthians 7:30 (New Living Testament)