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 3K316: Venturing Out

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“It was by faith that Abraham obeyed when God called him to leave and go to another land that God would give him as his inheritance. He went without knowing where he was going.”

Here in Northern California, where I live, the word “Venture” is part of the common vocabulary. If you are not a part of a venture you probably know someone who has brushed up with a start-up venture. And then there are those who are venture capitalists and the VCs invest other people’s money into new ventures. Dictionary.com defines venture as: “An undertaking involving uncertainty as to the outcome, especially a risky or dangerous one: a mountain-climbing venture. A business enterprise or speculation in which something is risked in the hope of profit; a commercial or other speculation.” Speculation, risk, hazards, hope. These are all words that describe a venture. And, it fits for as we can be prone to say, “Nothing ventured is nothing gained”. So, we venture for something that if we take the risk and it pans out will have rewards attached. But, even then when we venture we do all we can to keep the risk down, even if it means less rewards. VCs want to mitigate the risk by ensuring the best team, the right kind of capital and opening up ways to go to market. But even if we are in a position in an established company, we still venture when we take initiative or try something new for us. Venturing is just part of business.

But to venture out with no idea of where we are going seems kind of crazy doesn’t it? But, that is exactly what God asked Abraham to do. He went out totally blind to where he was going or what he was supposed to do. When Abraham got the message that he was to venture out he laid all of the risk and hazards back on God and by faith allowed Him to lead and he then followed. We are being asked to venture out from where we are in order to bring even greater glory to God in our work and lives. Can we find the courage in God to venture? It could be that God is challenging us to move our business forward in a new way, or to use our investments differently, or to reallocate our time and energy.  Whatever the venturing that is in front of us right now, don’t ignore the push and pull inside of us as it could be that God is asking us to trust on Him for a new venture.

Reference: Hebrews 11:8 (New Living Translation)