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 383: Secret of Success

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I am often asked to speak on the broad topic of how to become “successful” in whatever endeavor that is chosen. At the end of the day, most of the leadership books, lectures given and classes taken are all about how to be more successful. A strong orientation towards success is what it takes to make it through a career and without this in one’s DNA it is difficult to rise above the challenges and competition that faces us in the workplace. On the other end of the spectrum though are those who are so obsessed with success that they miss many opportunities along the way to have a more fulfilled life outside of work. Work, and success at work, becomes the focus and the overarching goal of life and then things end up out of whack when that success is not achieved. So, it is a game of balance that we play and we spend our careers trying to strike that balance to get the most out of work and out of life. Along the way we try and find that “secret of success” much like the Spanish explorers looked for the Fountain of Youth. I marvel sometimes at the books that are written about the secrets of success. If it really is such a secret then why are mass-market appeal books written about the topic. There really are no secrets, there are only suggestions and examples to follow to find one’s own formula to success. We are fortunate to have our own book that is chocked full of examples and suggestions. That book being the Bible. In 2 Chronicles 31 we learn of King Hezekiah and how he managed his kingdom and how he became successful. We read in verse 21: “In all that he did in the service of the Temple and God and in his efforts to follow the law and the commands, Hezekiah sought his God wholeheartedly. As a result, he was very successful.” There are no secrets in life to success but there are sometimes clear directions that we just have to follow. If you have been searching for your own secret to your success, then you can stop looking and try to follow King Hezekiah’s example and just put God first and with all you do and seek Him wholeheartedly. Once you have followed that example, then you may find that your search for the secret of success can end.

Reference: 2 Chronicles 2:21 (New Living Testament)