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 2677: Firm Footing

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.”

No business is ever, I mean ever, on firm footing.  Those who deceive themselves to believe they are, are sometimes the ones who slip and fall the hardest.  As I write this, I don’t know if the WeWork IPO has happened, will happen, or will never happen.  They were so sure of their footing that they were adding to their footprint as fast as any expansion we have seen in a long time.  But, once the financials and future were tested on potential public investors, the message back was, “Not so fast!”.  The foundation by which they had established their footing started to come under scrutiny and with that, became suspect.  Rather than believe we are on firm footing, we are better off to build our businesses and work as if the floor could fall out from under us at any time and also without much notice.

We navigate our own careers and work within the shadow of the company and industry we work within.  So, if the company believes they have a firm footing, we take on the same confidence and actions. Thus, we have to watch out as well.  But, we can assure that firm footing by seeking and learning the will of God for our work, careers and lives. The Holy Spirit can guide us to the place of firmness so we can place all of us, right there!

Reference:  Psalm 143:10 (New Living Translation)