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 3: Timing

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Yesterday I referred to Ecclesiastes 9:11 as a verse for how to make sense of others’ successes when they don’t make any sense at all. But this verse about being in the right place at the right time is also a powerful verse in understanding why some things at work, work out and others don’t. I am convinced that a large part of success, or failure in work is based on an understanding of timing. Remember the old Ernest and Julio Gallo wine advertisement, “we shall sell no wine before its’ time”? Their advertising promise was that they were masters of timing, which would lead to a quality product. Many times in my career I have seen great ideas go no where because they were presented at the wrong time. Sometimes these were macro-timing issues that would have to do with market influences, etc. but more often than not it was about the timing of human readiness or the lack of understanding of others. You probably already have a pretty good understanding of how timing works when you think of when is the right time to ask for that day or week off from work. In this caae, you’ve already thought through the bigger timing issues like who else will be on vacation or out during the same time you are requesing, what projects or priorities are on the docket, etc.. And then, you manage the timing of when to ask your boss for the time off. You probably don’t ask her as she’s getting out of her car rushing into the building late for a meeting with her boss, do you? (If you do, oh no!) Someone else said it plainly, “timing is everything”. As you think through what is on your plate today and what requests, projects, and tasks that you have in front of you, take a deep breath, pray for wisdom, and then reflect on the timing of what you need to do and how it relates to others around you. Today might not be the day, tomorrow might be better. Pray that God puts you in the right place at the right time today. And if He does, make the most of it and don’t forget to give Him the thanks for making it all work out.

Reference: Ecclesiastes 9:11 (New Living Translation)