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 2259: “HMW”

“Fools think their own way is right,but the wise listen to others.”

Saying, “Let’s do it this way” doesn’t invite any cooperation or new ideas from others.  But, that or some semblance of the same tone is the way many meetings or conversations between boss and subordinate, or among colleagues begin. We can’t get the best thinking or advice if we don’t solicit it and do so in a way that is non-threatening and inviting.  A term you may hear bantered about is, “HMW”.  “HMW” stands for “How Might We”.  It’s the “in” way of opening a brainstorming or problem solving session, and it works.  Consider that when you are asked “how might we” how much better that feels in being able to express your opinions and/or ideas.  Try it and see how it might work for you!

King Solomon was clear many times in the Proverbs that we need the advice and counsel of others on all facets of our lives.  Establishing people in our lives who will give us true feedback and advice when we need it can be the difference, in many cases, between succeeding and failing.  Just being able to brainstorm on how we might be able to solve a problem means that more than one brain and set of experiences is being leveraged. Simply put, having a trusted set of advisors for our career, finances, relationships, health and spiritual journey would be in King Solomon’s words, “wise”.

Reference: Proverbs 12:15 (New Living Translation)