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 2333: Special Ways

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“…O Lord, the God of my master; Abraham, if you are planning to make my mission a success, please guide me in a special way.”

We are in the midst of one of the largest shifts of our economy that we will experience in our lifetime.  It has been coming for two decades now with all the warnings and telltale signs in front of us, but for many reasons; the past should be a predictor of the future, we’ve always done it this way, we’re smart enough to figure this out, etc., the water kept warming up around us and now it is too late to jump out of the pot.  We are at the end of the road for large format, bricks and mortar retail.  If you like going to a mall to shop, hurry up, because the stores you will find there in the future (if the mall is not converted to another use) won’t be the ones that are there now.  Why all the gloom and doom?  Well, because bankruptcy lawyers had one of their best years ever in 2017 with 50 retailers filing bankruptcy and analysts predicting a 23% increase this year, topping $7 billion dollars.  On the failure watch list according to Fitch ( a real estate analyst publication) are:  “Sears, Neiman Marcus, J Crew, Talbots, Lands’ End and Cole Haan”.  Just this last Friday Macy’s announced the closing of multiple stores here in the Bay Area, part of a nationwide closing plan that will affect 5000 plus jobs. This is going to get worse before it gets better.  However, what this collapse does open the door for is specialty retail.  I don’t know if we are going to be willing to wander around a street or inside a cavernous space to check out these specialty shops and offerings, but highly curated, unique and targeted offerings that command our curiosity and attention, might be the only way through.

It could be that the “special way” has always been the path to success.  We know those in our business lives (and personal lives) who have a special way about them that draws us to them and makes them the ones that other want to follow or listen to.  Abraham’s servant prayed to God to be guided in a special way.  Should that not be our prayer today?  Lord, guide us not in the way of all others, but instead guide us in a special way that comes from you!

Reference:  Genesis 24:42 (New Living Translation)