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 3K367: Context Shifting

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“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”

I am (like many of you) on Zoom and phone calls all day long jumping back and forth from subject to subject with different people on so many different topics.  I’ve come to believe that successful context-shifting is a skill to be perfected.  That said, it is not for everyone. The best sales people might be the ones that consistently work an industry vertical so that they have a mastery of the problems, players and opportunities within that vertical, turning their knowledge into a competitive selling advantage versus the person who just drops in and out occasionally. I personally, like context-shifting throughout a day as it keeps my mind having to be sharp and ready. I also try and find patterns and analogies that can be made from one conversation to another.  Many times that is easier said than done.  And, we will all will be faced with having to quickly shift contexts in our work and it is best to have a welcoming attitude for what might come next.

God knows that we walk through all kinds of contexts each day and have to shift from one to another. And He also knows that in order to make the most of this life that we need to make Him the one true constant.  It is why He never changes.  If He did then we would be grasping around trying to find our balance all the time without anything to grab onto or stand firm upon. He never shifts, regardless of the context.  That is an assurance we can hold onto regardless of any change that comes.  We can carry that assurance with us into our work, our relationships and any part of our life.

Reference: Hebrews 13:8 (New Living Translation)