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 251: Patterns

purposed worKING No Comments

Within Purposed worKING, we have discussed before the importance of routines and predictability and how these can affect others and the perceptions of each of us as we try to live and work with purpose. Patterns are all around us and we work within these patterns each day. I think about one pattern that we each likely count on each and every day. Each time we power up the computer in front of us, we depend on those who have created the operating system to provide a predictable and consistent experience so that the machine powers up in a way that every program, process and application starts the same way each time. Yet, as humans, we are so unpredictable. We start the day, work throughout the day, and end the day in ways that are different, or close to different throughout the days of the week. And then we wonder why those around us become curious, and sometimes frustrated, that they can’t count on us to be the same with each of them so that they can know when to expect or or predict with some certainty what we will do next. Why is this so important? Most of us operate at our best when are we within environments that are comfortable and expected. We get anxious, tense, and worried when the ground beneath us is unstable. We also all live our lives in a busy time where daily there is more on our plate than we can handle, so we need to be able to look out in front of us to plan and anticipate what is next. I was struck by a verse that I read recently in the book of Mark. In Chapter 6 of Mark we hear of story of how Jesus was received and treated in his hometown. But the verse I found most interesting was the 6th verse of Chapter 6 when Jesus was leaving and Mark writes of Jesus departing to go teach from village to village. The New Kings James Version says; “Then He went about the villages in a circuit, teaching.” He didn’t go randomly. He went on a circuit, which would mean that those who saw Him teach before, or who missed Him on His last visit, could expect to see Him again and again. As people began to get to to know Jesus He allowed them to do so in a way that they could predict when and where He would be next. With this pattern had to have come some level of comfort in the knowledge that He would return to be with them again. As we think about today and the pattern that we use in our work, are we creating a circuit or a routine that others can expect from us? Are we being predictable in the responses and the outcomes of how they approach us? Have we begun this day in our own pattern of time with Him before we start the day with others? Today would be a good day to reevaluate our patterns to be sure that we are doing all we can to be accessible and comforting to those around us. If our patterns are not the ones we like, then there is no better today than today to start making changes.

Reference: Mark 6:6 (New King James Version)