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 243: Morning Meetings

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Morning Meetings. You either love ’em or hate ’em. And it is obvious to all what side each of are on. For some, the morning meeting is the best time of the day. They come to the meeting having already been up, exercised and caffeinated. For others, it is lucky if they get there on time and when they are there, they are so lethargic that you wonder if it would have been better to have just let them stay at home and sleep. Regardless, the establishment of a morning meeting is all about who is the boss and what circadian rhythm drives their waking and sleeping pattern. I am a morning guy. I like to say I would have been a good farmer; “Up with the sun, down with the sun”. My best time is the morning and so I was a driver of starting the day and the week off with a morning meeting. To me, starting the day off knowing what is on the docket, being able to think ahead and potentially be one step in front of the incoming emails and phone calls, and organizing myself in the quiet before the hustle and the bustle around me, is an advantage. Those who stumble in at the last minute, rush into the first meeting with a half-spilled cup of coffee in their hand trying to catch up on their Blackberry in the first meeting of the day, miss a step that they spend the first half of the day trying to regain. Of course the argument is made by these people that late at night they are the ones sending the emails that make the morning people have to be in early to take care of and respond. There is some truth in that. But, for me, nothing replaces the morning for a time of solitude, reflection and readiness. David talks about how he used his mornings in Psalm 5:3. “Listen to my voice in the morning, Lord. Each morning I bring my requests to you and wait expectantly.” David had it right. His first meeting of the day was with his Lord to bring forth his requests and then to leave time…I suspect throughout the whole day…to wait expectantly. Whether you are a morning or evening person, the pattern that David describes to us is the right one. We are to bring our requests to God daily and then wait expectantly for His answers. Today, there is something at work that is troubling you and has you thinking deeply about how best to solve the problem. Try this morning bringing that issue in front of God as a request for Him to come with you to work today to help you solve it, once and for all. And then wait, as David says, “expectantly” on Him. Time with God each morning is the best morning meeting!

Reference: Psalm 5:3 (New Living Testament)