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 2391: Have I Noticed?

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“For all these forty years your clothes didn’t wear out, and your feet didn’t blister or swell.”

Well, this is a little crazy.  It was yen years ago today, April 4th, that I woke up, without a job (first time since I was 15).  The acquisition of SNOCAP was complete and I had to decide what to do next. The one promise I made to myself and Patti was that I wouldn’t rush into anything.  I guess I upheld that promise as 10 years later I am still figuring it out but in the meantime so many things have happened and I have been blessed and fortunate beyond my wildest expectations.  In April of 2008 it didn’t feel at all like there would be anything good or new to come.  Along with a gripping fear of loss of relevance and identity the financial markets were collapsing so this was not the best of times to be in a state or flux.  But, now in hindsight, my journey has not been that different from the rest of us.  If we are in business (and in life) the pattern kind of goes likes this: 1) Potential and possibility.  2) Uncertainty. 3) Trials and tribulations. 4) Execution and realization. 5) Uncertainty. 6) Trials and Tribulations. 7) Rethink. 8) Back to step 1 and repeat.  The gift may be in having seen the pattern enough that once back in it, we can see how fortunate we are to have what we have and know that we will move through whatever to something we can’t yet imagine (like writing a daily blog for ten years).

I was reading in Deuteronomy as Moses was speaking to and readying the Israelites for the future.  I laughed out loud as I read the verse above.  In my mind Moses was saying, “Don’t you…I mean just for a second think…that’s it really strange….I mean, like really weird that we all are wearing the same clothes that we put on 40 years ago and they haven’t gotten any holes in them….they haven’t faded from the sun…the threads haven’t just worn out?  Like, have any of you even wondered about that?”  Not to mention the question about the condition of their feet.  You see, God is providing for us, all the time and no matter where we are in the journey,  He is asking us, “Have you noticed just what I have given you?”  Me for one, I don’t always notice, but when I take time to do so, I am so, so  grateful.

Reference: Deuteronomy 8:4 (New Living Translation)