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 951: Pirates vs. Swashbucklers

purposed worKING No Comments

“And when they found them not, they dragged Jason and certain brethren unto the rulers of the city, crying, “These that have turned the world upside down have come hither also…”

The business world doesn’t like “Pirates”, but they love “Swashbucklers” and buccaneers. Pirates steal, copy, rip-off and can cause irreparable harm and destroy value and spirit.  In my videogame days there was nothing worse than watching a team of people work and give years of their lives to a product only to have someone leak the product before it was shipped and then to see that same product be pirated into the black market.  It was disheartening and devastating.  Any product or service that depends on their intellectual property as part of their competitive advantage will be constantly concerned and cautious of those who would be pirates.  Now, swashbucklers and buccaneers are a different story.  Business loves the Steve Jobs of the world who out together a band of swashbucklers and flew the pirate flag within Apple to launch the Mac.  Hollywood makes billions off of romanticizing the image of the swashbuckler (from Errol Flynn to Johnny Depp).  The untethered, high risk, high reward attitude of those who can buck the system and sail away on their own is the gestalt of Silicon Valley,  It’s a fine line between pirates and swashbucklers, but we know that we want the latter to ensure progress and innovation.

Are we strong enough in our faith to fly the flag of Christ and march to His drum beat versus the rest of the world?  We have many examples in the Bible of those who took on their own swashbuckling way to spread the word of Christ throughout the world.  The world pulls us into its’ ways and the trappings of work and business can be one of the most draining and eroding environments of our faith and principles.  We must guard against, and be strong to not get pulled in and find ourselves adrift without a course.  It is not easy to sail against the winds, but it is what we must sometimes do in order to be consistent where it matters most.  Do we have enough inside of us today to be like Jason and be called one of those who “have turned the world upside down” for God?

Reference:  Acts 17:6 (21st Century King James Version)