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 89: Rescue Plans, part 1 – People to Work

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We are now getting used to hearing about government rescue plans and bailouts and work programs that will create jobs. In many work places those ideas are part of the planning for the future of the company as they relate to economic growth and consumer confidence. In America we still hear and read about “The Works Progress Administration” and can see buildings, roads,schools, monuments and dams that were created during that period. We work today with our eye on both the public and private sector and watch as they sometimes blend together. I was fascinated by my reading of the book of Zechariah and what happened at a time of complete economic meltdown in those days. In the eighth chapter we learn of a time when “there were no jobs and no wages for either people or animals”. (FYI, these troubled economics periods we see in our modern age are nothing new). But, what was most intriguing to me was that during those times the “stimulus package” was to put people back to work by rebuilding the temple. The people of Israel are told in Chapter 8 verse 13: “Now I will rescue you and and make you both a symbol and a source of blessing! So don’t be afraid or discouraged, but instead get on with rebuilding the Temple!” Even way back then, God had a plan for how to put in a comprehensive rescue plan by putting people to work on his Temple. We are faced with today the challenges of what to do when it seems that the world and our situations are crumbling around us. There are many messages in Zechariah that we can take forward, but one that sticks with me is that in the troubling times we are not to lean back and become complacent or retiring. We are to lean forward and get to work. We are to work our way out of situations and crisis, not depend on others to do so for us. God said to the Israelites, “don’t get discouraged”, just get on with getting the job done. Get on with getting to work. Each of us have our own challenges and issues to work through during these difficult times and we should take heart that God tells us that this is not the first time and that like He did before He will put in front of us work to be done. We just need to pick ourselves up and get on with it. It may be today in your job when you need that extra bit of motivation to complete the task. Today, listen to what we are told and just get on with it.

Reference: Zechariah 8:9-13 (New Living Testament)