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 2622: Bokeh Effect

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“Ears to hear and eyes to see— both are gifts from the Lord.”

I caught the commercial on TV when the Mom accuses another Mom of Bokeh-ing her child out of a photograph.  It’s an inside joke to those who know what that is and as thus I only saw the commercial a couple of times and I can’t remember who the ad was for, but the message stuck with me. The Bokeh effect is this: “In photography, Bokeh is the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as “the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light”.  This is what makes “Portrait Mode” look so good on our smart phones. It is also a great metaphor of how we can allow ourselves and our businesses to lose perspective when we focus on ourselves and we blur out all the rest. I worry about the Bokeh Effect as we look at societal problems and problems within our organizations. If we only want to focus on ourselves and take the easy way out by blurring out all the rest, then indeed we have lost our perspective, not found it.

God’s Word tells us where to focus and where to fix our eyes.  But, here is the beautiful part of how He puts together the picture of our lives.  When we focus ourselves on Him, He reveals to us the rest of our lives and humanity.  The more we seek to see Him the more we can see our own flaws and failings and the hurting, the downtrodden, the broken and yes, the lost. When we can’t see or feel God speaking to us and convicting us to have open eyes to see beyond ourselves then we have also lost our perspective. He is just the opposite of the Bokeh Effect and we are to be the same.

I’ve heard and sung this song by Brandon Heath, hundreds of times, but when it comes to explaining how and where we are to focus, it speaks volumes:

Looked down from a broken sky
Traced out by the city lights
My world from a mile high
Best seat in the house tonight

Touched down on the cold black top
Hold on for the sudden stop
Breathe in the familiar shock
Of confusion and chaos

All those people goin’ somewhere
Why have I never cared?

Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity

Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

Step out on a busy street
See a girl and our eyes meet
Does her best to smile at me
To hide what’s underneath

There’s a man just to her right
Black suit and a bright red tie
Too ashamed to tell his wife
He’s out of work, he’s buyin’ time

All those people goin’ somewhere
Why have I never cared?

Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity

Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

I’ve been there a million times
A couple of million eyes
Just move and pass me by
I swear I never thought that I was wrong

Well, I want a second glance
So, give me a second chance
To see the way You’ve seen the people all along

Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missing
Give me Your love for humanity

Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see

Give me Your Eyes
(Give me Your eyes for just one second)
Lord, give me Your eyes
(Give me Your eyes so I can see)
Everything
(Everything that I keep missing)
That I keep missing

Give me Your heart
(Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted)
For the broken hearted
(The ones that are far beyond my reach)
Give me Your heart
(Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten)
Lord, give me Your eyes
(Give me Your eyes so I can see)

Reference: Proverbs 20:12 (New Living Testament)