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 241: A Fool’s Load

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We’ve all seen a fool’s load and we have likely heard the sound of the result. I first heard the term from the restaurant industry and it has stuck with me. A fool’s load is when we try and stack and carry too much in our arms and we think we “have it” but when we lose the balance, miss the step, bump the corner, glance away, brush into another person, well we all know what happens. Down crashes the load and all that is left is us, standing there, looking foolish. Thus, the fool’s load. Many times in my career I have sat with people who are carrying a fool’s load at work. I have been guilty of such many times as well. We all do it at some point. We continue to say yes and take on more until one day we crash, or nearly crash, and we realize that we have too much on our plates and we forgot to say no or set priorities and boundaries. Somewhere in here is our human nature to continue to burden ourselves with more responsibilities, activities, events, and commitments until we find ourselves overwhelmed, defocused, and struggling to lighten the load that we have created for ourselves. My wife used to blame my companies for asking me to do too much until we finally had the discussion that she could not blame anyone but me, as it was only me that allowed this to happen to myself. Bosses and companies shouldn’t be the culprits. Only the person in the mirror should be the one to have to face up to the problem. Undoubtedly, many of us are in this situation right now. For a myriad of reasons we have too much of a load right now and are worried that it will all come crashing down at any moment. Now is the time, before the trip and fall, to begin to lighten that load and set down some of the areas that are being carried. David tells us what to do in Psalm 55:22; “Give your burden to the Lord and he will take care of you.” Today, as you look through the long list that you have in front of you, filled with the big and little things to be completed, take a hard inventory of what loads you have taken on that need to be set aside for now. Ask yourself, “Am I carrying a fool’s load?” Pray to God to have Him help you reveal this to you and then listen hard. From there, begin to shed off the areas that are not priorities, or the nice-to-do’s that have somehow become a part of the burden. If you allow Him, He will show you what to let go of and He will lighten the load. God does not want us to carry the fool’s load. He didn’t put us here to watch us crash and fall. He desires to lighten the load, and will do so if we will only have the faith to allow Him to do so.

Reference: Psalm 55:22 (New Living Testament)