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 2314: Close Attention

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“I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.”

Last week I read about this: “A train on the Tokyo-area Metropolitan Intercity Railway Company’s Tsukuba Express line failed to stick to its timetable. The line connects Akihabara in Tokyo with Tsukuba in Ibaraki Prefecture, and on weekday mornings there’s supposed to be a northbound train that leaves Minami Nagareyama Station at 9:44 a.m. However, on November 14, the train instead left at 9:43:40, 20 seconds earlier than it’s supposed to. Before the day was done, the Tsukuba Express management issued an official apology, posted to the company’s website.” Imagine if we were held this closely accountable each and every day in our work?  It might drive us crazy, but for some, not measuring to this level of correctness, drives them nuts!

I’ve been struggling on how help those who have wanted to talk about all of the abuses that we are reading,  hearing and talking about every day.  Some are questioning what is right and what is wrong.  Others, thought they knew the difference but now feel like new lines are being drawn.  And there are others who are ashamed of their past behavior and just want to make it right. Wherever we are today, we can start with paying very close attention to our own actions and also paying close attention to the feeling and needs of others.  One of the signs of abusing power and position is when we stop paying close attention to others and instead think that we have it all figured out and that our way is the way that everyone else will surely appreciate and allow.  Any time we start to think that we, on our own, have it all right, we are getting ready to step into a dangerous place.  God teaches us that in the small things, in the small actions, that we are to live according to His way and God’s law.  If He cares about the smallest of details, then are we not to do the same and pay close attention?  Especially, when our actions are to reflect for others who He is in our life.

Reference: Matthew 5:18 (New Living Translation)