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 2255: Standing Alone

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“God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.”

There is lots of talk right now about mergers and acquisitions.  We are in the harvesting portion of the economic cycle where companies are flush with cash or new capital and they need to put that resource to work or they need to fill in revenue or profit streams that they are missing. I was talking with a buddy about our M&A experiences and he pointed out that there should always be a committed time of true standalone operating after acquisition and before integration.  Many say they are going to do this, but few do. His reasoning for the discipline is that the rush to integration loses momentum in the acquired business and inevitably the value of the acquisition whether it be product, revenue, cash-flow or people gets lost in the transition and the value ends up being diminished and many times lost all together (written-down).  Instead, let an entity continue to run and use the acquirer to give it extra resources and then see how it goes for 12 to 18 months might well be the better play.  The company that is left to standalone may well just stand taller because they know they have supportive expectations to exceed. Supportive, being the key word. The successful acquiring company will never leave their new acquisition alone, they are always there to assist, add, or pick up the pieces, but they just need to let them feel they are standing on their own…at least for awhile.

This past Monday, July 3rd, Patti and I had to say to say goodbye to our first and only dog that we have ever had together.  Our French Bulldog, Louie came into our home in 2007 and quickly became the child we were never able to have.  For over a decade he gave us both unconditional love and joy.  But, he also gave us another gift that turned out to be priceless;  he gave us another living entity to care for and take responsibility.  Before Louie, we stood alone and we chose freely how we spent our time on our own schedule and own cares.  That all changed when that small bundle of life came home with us that first day. Yes, there were times over the years that we romanticized when we wouldn’t have to be concerned about travel annoyances with him, or having to get home within a certain time frame, or having to put up with his quirks or frequent trips to the vet.  But, now we sit alone and heartbroken willing to give anything to have it all back again.  And in this is a lesson for me that God sometimes can take points, times and different positions of our lives and show us that we never really stand alone if we put our faith in Him. I am comforted, even now as I write this on a very rainy, dreary morning when the house is more quite than I desire, that God has given me a life of capability and choice to standalone, but the gift from Him in never having to do so.  Sometimes it takes pain and suffering to be reminded of His promise and deliverance of His love and grace.  If you are trying to standalone, don’t try too hard…there is a better way.

Reference:  Psalm 18:30 (New Living Translation)