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 2985: Future Insurance

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“Do your planning and prepare your fields before building your house.”

A lot of money has flowed into places that aren’t used to having much capital available.  Businesses and municipalities alike are now flush with more surplus cash than they have ever experienced.  In some cases that I have seen there are businesses who have received more resources than they needed to start the business.  So, it leaves people asking, “How should I plan for this?”  It’s a great question.  Since the capital infusions have come from the government, there are restrictions on how it can be spent.  That we know.  But, what about the new found profits that will come?  My advice has been to focus on longevity.  If we can take the next 18 months and focus the excess profits and capital that will be built up to ensure longer term sustainability or growth, then are building insurance and safety nets for what may come.  And, while it might appear that the capital we have received was to recover from the past (it is to do that), it can also insure us for a longer future.

Solomon teaches us to plan, but not only to plan but also to provision for the future.  Why would we prepare our fields before we build our house?  One is not obviously dependent upon the others unless it is that we can’t actually resource the building of the house unless the fields are yielding what is needed to pay for the construction.  God is telling us that we need to be sure that we don’t get out over our skis when it comes to the future.  Yes, He will always provide for us, but we can do our part to insure our future by listening to Solomon’s wisdom about what comes first.

Reference:  Proverbs 24:27 (New Living Translation)