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 2164: Accommodating

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“Ruth fell at his feet and thanked him warmly. “What have I done to deserve such kindness?” she asked. “I am only a foreigner.”

I have taken to walking to my gym versus driving there.  It’s a couple of miles and it takes some time, but I just add it on to the time of what the workout will be.  As I walk I count on the accommodating of drivers who give me, as the pedestrian, the right of way.  I also count on the accommodating that comes from the city having built sidewalks, established street light patterns that allow for me to cross intersections, and for the cut away ramps onto the sidewalks that I don’t need today, but later in life might be dependent upon to be able to traverse a sidewalk.  This made me think that our culture and society is built on upon the accommodating of those who “can’t” or who have not been afforded the opportunities that the rest of us might have.  Some think these accommodations are “unfair” or play to the minority, but I have found in business that those who think that way and fight against the accommodations that bring fairness to the workplace will never win the respect and following of all.  Sure, they might rise up into high positions, and sometime stay there for quite a while, but when the chips are down or the plea for their own accommodating goes out, there aren’t many who will stand behind them.

Jesus came to show the world and the generations who would live after Him the love of God.  Jesus was not a “softy”, but He was the ultimate in showing that the core of our life is to show love, grace, kindness and yes, an accommodating spirit and actions to those who are in need, hurt, or in the case of Ruth, felt disadvantaged and an outsider (certainly not a neighbor) because she was a “foreigner”.  If we don’t reflect these traits and teachings of Jesus  in our daily actions and words then it will be hard for others to see Jesus being reflected back through us.

Reference: Ruth 2:10 (New Living Translation)