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 2422: Borrowing

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“…”The Lord needs it and will return it soon.””

Of course there are times when borrowing makes the most sense. Businesses that don’t understand the power of leverage and utilize borrowing smartly, miss out.  However, borrowing can become both a crutch and an addiction that must be tamed less the business becomes overextended and then we can’t find a way back.  There is always someone out there who wants to give us money, but at what cost?  Cash flow driven businesses can be most vulnerable as that piece of plastic in the pocket tempts us to get on the revolving credit merry-go-round and if not careful, the monthly interest takes over.  Sure, always consider borrowing as a strategy, but when borrowing turns from strategy into a “fix”, beware.

Jesus sends two of His disciples ahead of Him to borrow a colt (likely a donkey).  He instructs the disciples to tell the owner or anyone who asks, that the Lord needs and will return it soon.  What struck me as I reread this passage was first, the borrowing of the donkey was already thought out and had become a part of the plan (prophesy) and second, that Jesus provided the commitment that the colt would be returned.  Why is this important as we start another day purposeful to bring glory to God in our work?  Consider that today God is asking to borrow us to be the vehicle for Him to be transported to those who don’t know Him.  And then, best of all, know that when He is finished with us, that He promises to return us back to where we began, and that is to Him.

Reference: Mark 11:3 (New Living Translation)