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 2967: How Many Handfuls?

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“And yet, “Better to have one handful with quietness than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind.”

Maybe it is being around for a long time or seeing so much, but I’m finding it harder and harder to listen to those who are willing to “bet the farm” to get more and more versus being smart and realizing that a smaller portion of something big is better than all of something that is little, or becomes nothing at all. The winner take all and more attitude is prevalent around us today.  It seems that we have become so self-centered that if we don’t get it all and someone else might get something that we don’t, that we dig in our heels and then no one gets anything.  I’m seeing this more and more in the businesses I work with.  Let me try and be clear.  Winner takes all really looks great and we think because we see a few companies that get that to happen that they become the role model to whom we should aspire.  But, please look beyond those few and see that winning can happen or and over without having it all.  Just enough can win the next next day and beyond.

“Better to have one handful with quietness than two handfuls with hard work and chasing the wind.” I love this verse.  Especially, the tradeoff of quietness versus chasing the wind.  Which would we prefer for the long run that is our careers and life?  We’ve all chased the wind at some point or another, only to find that the wind soon subsides and we are stopped somewhere where we may not be able to return.  Might it be that the one handful that we have today is for right now more than enough?

Reference:  Ecclesiastes 4:6 (New Living Translation)