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 3K315: The Ripple Effect

“So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect.”

A fascinating study (and a big one) of one million workers tells of what the impact is on others when an employee leaves their employment .  No surprise that when a low performer leaves, most others see that as a relief.  But, if the low performer is allowed to stay, that can drive away higher performers who feel the other person isn’t pulling their weight.  When high performers voluntarily leave for something better it also can spur others to consider their options too.  The worst is when high performers are let go involuntarily, and especially through layoffs.  When that happens then everyone thinks it could happen to them too and they leave to make sure they aren’t caught up in the next layoff scenario.  Yes, there is a ripple effect of turnover and if we don’t recognize and watch it closely we could end up with unexpected turnover of good people, which we definitely don’t want.

God will never lay us off from the workings of His Kingdom, but we always run the risk of being a quitter on the work He has for us to do.  We likely don’t loudly quit (as proclaim we are done with God), we more quietly quit and slip away, thinking no one will notice.  But, they do and the ripple effect can happen here too.  We once were on fire for the Lord but then the flame dimmed and flickered. Those who were so engaged and energized because we were will begin to wane as well.  It’s hard sometimes because none of us can be totally on at all times, but with His help we can strive to be a positive ripple for those around us.

Reference: Acts 19:20 (New Living Translation)