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 351: Long-Range Planning

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A few organizations I am involved with are right now going through long-range strategic planning. The great thing about this kind of planning is that it is an opportunity to think big, think long and think creatively without limitations or putting boundaries around the thinking. After all of the ideas are worked through and consensus is gained on what is important, it is then that the hard work starts. This is when we sign up for the important initiatives and start to work towards how to achieve all of the long-range ideas. Long-range planning also means long-range working. While it is nice to have short-term deliverables so that we can see and feel achievement, much of the best work we can do is the work that is long-range, strategic and may never feel like it is totally done. A friend of mine, when I asked him how he saw his job going he started talking about the next 15 years and what he, or someone else, could do over that time frame. How many of us think in that amount of years when it comes to our jobs and what we can do for our companies? It is hard to think and act in long-term ways. We are so conditioned now for short-term results that we struggle to think about the long-term future in front of us. We should be grateful that our God does not think that way. We read in Philippians that God is with us for the long-run; “And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.” If God is willing to work in us for as long as it takes, then we can do the same. We can look to the future and be the ones who are into our work for the long run. Those that can think and work in the long-range are many times those who are thought of as most strategic and those who others know they can count on. If there are areas in your work where you know that you need to think longer and more strategically, today would be a good day to start thinking and doing your own long-range planning.

Reference: Philippians 1:6 (New Living Testament)