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 2189: Walk It Out

purposed worKING No Comments

“He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.”

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Walk the Talk”.  We like to use it when we are trying to recognize someone for living up to their stated values, principles, or stated areas of importance, or we use it for when they don’t live up to those things.  Walking the Talk can send a powerful message, either way.  But there is another walking metaphor that is also important and that is to “Walk it Out”.  When we “Walk it Out” we are saying that we are willing to go where we need to go, do what is needed, or spend the time necessary to ensure that we are experiencing the same thing that our consumers, customers, employees or just any one else that we have asked to try, buy or experience something.  If we aren’t willing to “Walk it Out”, then how can we ever stand behind and be able to mount a defense when things go bad or become defective?

We are all faced in the workplace with areas where it is really hard to “Walk it Out” and many times it is not because we aren’t willing, but more often than not it is because we get busy, distracted, tired or discouraged and don’t feel that we have the time or energy to go through the same experiences as others will. The rub is that when we cut this corner others feel as though we have wasted their time or worse yet, disrespected them.  And, it goes without saying that if we have others thinking that we disrespect them that we can’t be much of a positive witness to them.  When we think we can’t “Walk it Out”, think about the One who walked it All the way out for us and then reconsider if we have the time, energy (He gives us promise of power and strength when we need it) or commitment to do so.  We should!

Reference:  Isaiah 40:29 (New Living Translation)