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 3K291: Hammer Or Nail

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“When they came to a place called The Skull, they nailed him to the cross. And the criminals were also crucified—one on his right and one on his left.”

Today is April 4th. It’s a day I always remember as it was the last day that I was employed directly by a company, reporting to a Board of Directors. It was a simple decision.  The company I was running was acquired and only one CEO was needed from then on out.  The acquirer remained.  The acquired didn’t. It was all good and the years since have been great.  I also note April 4th because it was the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered in 1968. I think of him on this day and was reminded in a sermon I was listening to that in his book :Strength to Love: he had a strong word for us about who shapes and who is shaped by culture.  He said we can either be the Nail who lets culture shape us, or we can be the Hammer who shapes the culture.  It’s a lesson for all of as we navigate these times where it seems Hammers are all around us.  Let’s not in our work, nor in our lives, be just a Nail.

This is Holy Week and as we intentionally move towards Easter, let’s remember that neither the hammer or the nails could defeat our Lord.  The nails of the cross were His sacrifice for us and should remind us that anything of the culture around us is so below the importance and significance of His Kingdom.  We are daily confronted with a culture that wants to move us away from Christ.  In this week, on this day, let’s let the nails of the cross bring us back to Him first, and always, in all that we do.

Reference: Luke 23:33 (New Living Translation)