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 403: Financial Independence

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While some will say that they work for things more meaningful than financial rewards, I know few people who say they want to work for their entire lives. They work, invest and save for a day when they won’t have to work and they will have some financial independence and freedom. That said, there are many, many who focus so much on this goal that financial independence becomes the end game and they miss the joy of work and the purpose that they can bring to their jobs. When we let our quest for financial freedom overtake us then we have missed the point and we are skating towards what could be a difficult career and disappointment. The Fidelity 401K ads encourage us to know and walk around with our “retirement number” in our arms or hanging over our heads. There is certainly nothing wrong with a goal and without them we likely don’t achieve what we want to achieve, but we also don’t want to find ourselves in a situation where we become obsessed or overtaken by the quest to make money. In Deuteronomy Moses warns the Israelites of can happens when they lose the right perspective; “But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt” Let us not, as we work towards the purpose of bringing glory to God in our jobs, lose the context and perspective that we only are able to earn and share in the rewards given to us because He gave us the talents and skills to achieve and succeed. Keeping our eye on Him as the prize will provide us with way more than financial independence, it will provide us with eternal rewards!

Reference: Deuteronomy 8:11-14 (New Living Translation)