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 2404: Don’t Forget The Water

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“She said, “Give me another gift. You have already given me land in the Negev; now please give me springs of water, too.” So Caleb gave her the upper and lower springs.”

Nestle is fighting a PR battle in Michigan over the extraction of water for their business. They need water.  Everyone needs water.  Wars have been fought and will be fought over water access and use. Water is life-giving and life-sustaining.  Not all businesses need as much water as Nestle, but we each have some “thing” that is the life-blood of our ability to sustain and grow. Whatever that resource, including talent, we have to know how to cultivate and protect what it is that keeps us going. It’s easy to take our eye off the ball and start to assume that what has always been there, will always be available.  But, just ask a business that depends on water how much they worry about where water will come from in the future.  In response, they will show strategic plans, tactical plans and emergency plans to make sure that the water keeps flowing.

Land without water is not all that useful. Caleb’s daughter Acsah realized this when she asked her father for an additional blessing to be provided springs of water to accompany the land that they had already been assigned.  And, her request was granted.  What if she had not asked?  She and her husband would have had their land, but may have lived a life of worry and strife because they had not secured the water to sustain the land and their flocks. I take from this account that God wants us to not be afraid to ask for more water.  He does tell us more than once that He is the One who can take away our thirst.  We are marching through our work lives, day by day, step by step, year by year and without “water” to sustain us we will never fulfill the journey or potential of what we can be. So, today, let’s not forget to ask Him for our water.

Reference: Joshua 15:19 (New Living Translation)