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 2798: Care First. Care Most.

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“If I gave everything I have to the poor and even sacrificed my body, I could boast about it; but if I didn’t love others, I would have gained nothing.”

During this Covid-19 time I have been asked many times of should our response be as faith-driven people who have influence, responsibility or participation in companies or organizations?  I have said a lot and tried to give my best advice and counsel, knowing that this time is as critical as any I can remember and I want my counsel to be sound.  And then I read a quote by Reverend D. Scott Dudley, who is the senior Pastor of Bellevue, Washington’s Bellevue Presbyterian Church.  When asked how Christians should act during this pandemic he said this, “If, in this pandemic, Christians care first and care most, we may find ourselves in a whole different dialogue between the church and our culture what has been primarily a very toxic dialogue.” I was so struck with “Care First. Care Most” that it has become my first answer on how we are to show up in the marketplace during this time and at all times.  What would be better than to be known as the person and/or the leader who cared first and cared most?

So much of this time we are in has been about protecting others, not just ourselves.  Jesus taught us and then lived out the example of being about others and caring first and caring most.  If nothing else imagine that we could come out of this all waking every day going into the day with these three things on our mind:

  • Today is about someone else, not about me
  • I will care first
  • I will care most

Loving others as we love ourselves is not easy, but it is what we are to do.

Reference: 1 Corinthians 13:3 (New Living Translation)