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 2557: Ordinary Extra

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“You must do no ordinary work on that day. Instead, you are to present special gifts to the Lord.”

When a company does something extraordinary, we take notice. The “first” of anything makes the news. Usually those firsts are accompanied by a number (sold, reached, launched, achieved, made, etc.).  What I find interesting is our need for the records to be broken and the new to be told.  We bore quickly as consumers and if our companies are not finding the extraordinary to market and sell, we end up ordinary.  Ordinary is not all bad, especially if we deliver quality or safety (we want our elevators and airlines to be running as ordinarily as possible), but even then we have to find something of the extraordinary to distinguish us from the others.  When was the last time we thought about what it is that we have that could be considered ordinarily extra?

In C.S. Lewis’ book, “Miracles”, he writes, “Nothing can seem extraordinary until you have discovered what is ordinary.”  And maybe, that is what God is trying to say to us today as we wind down this last week before Christmas and New Years. We are plowing through the ordinary, completing our to do lists and last-minute priorities, so that we can be fully present in the ordinary before we bask in the extraordinary which is about to happen with the celebration of the birth of Jesus.  It was from ordinary beginnings that Jesus became the most extraordinary influence in history, present and future.  We are His ordinary gifts to the world who are here to bring glory to the extraordinary that He always will be.  So, be hopeful and energetic about what has been given to us as ordinary time and tasks, to make extra for Him!

Reference: Leviticus 23:25 (New Living Translation)