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 3K329: Instant Not

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“Jesus took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village. Then, spitting on the man’s eyes, he laid his hands on him and asked, “Can you see anything now?” The man looked around. “Yes,” he said, “I see people, but I can’t see them very clearly. They look like trees walking around.” Then Jesus placed his hands on the man’s eyes again, and his eyes were opened. His sight was completely restored, and he could see everything clearly.”

The company that owns The Instant Pot filed for bankruptcy protection.  Seems that our desire for instant gratification with food goes only so far.  In 2020 electronic multicooker sales hit $758 million and then in 2022 that number was cut in half and has continued to fall.  Instant Pot wasn’t the only company to get on top of a growth wave in 2020 to find that after that wave came to an even there wasn’t another one behind it.  We have a remarkable way in business to only think of what we can grab and gain now, without considering what will come next.  Maybe we are just too impatient to think longer-term, but what I have learned is that if it feels “instantly” huge, it might be but that instant growth won’t last forever.

Instant gratification can also be dangerous for us in our lives.  When something comes to us in an instant we should be checking ourselves on whether we are on the right path or not.  Our faith journey is not one of instant gratification. God has plans for us that are for the long-haul, right into and through eternity.  I was struck reading the account of how Jesus healed a blind man.  He didn’t just do it instantly.  Why did he do so in steps?  It wasn’t because He couldn’t heal the man fully with just a thought.  I think it was because He was trying to tell us something in His actions and the retelling of the account.  He was saying, “I will always be there for you, but don’t put me in the category of instant satisfaction or instant gratification. I can and will take my time.” Think about His life too.  It was 33 years and three of those very long years to fulfill His plan.  He waited and moved forward step-by-step.  That being just what we are to do with Him…move forward step-by-step and not getting caught up or expecting anything instant.

Reference: Mark 8:23-25 (New Living Translation)