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 1972: Enemies

purposed worKING No Comments

“But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!”

Yesterday I wrote of pardoning others.  Now, let’s go one step further and consider supporting, encouraging, helping and having a genuine care and concern for those we think are out to get us, stab us in the back, play political games, or just don’t like us.  Have I struck a nerve yet? Are you reading this and saying, “Yeah right, Rusty, but that’s not happening any time soon where I work!”  Well, if that is your reaction, let me assure you that you are not alone.  Work is set up to compete both externally and internally.  Sure, we talk about teamwork and all, but it’s down to you and one other person for the next big promotion and the competition is created.  But, what happens when the workplace just gets over those who are not team players and we just don’t take too seriously those who are overly political?  Well, things get a lot better.  We don’t have to always agree with others, but we should do so in a way that is with caring, respect and dignity.

I’m struck by some of the most God-fearing and nicest Christians I know, who when confronted with those who don’t agree with them on places like Facebook, turn into mean-spirited, scathing and vengeful people.  And then we wonder why the love of Christ gets questioned by others.  Jesus was very clear with us.  When we have enemies, we are to do two things; love and pray for them.  There weren’t any “buts or ifs” or caveats.  So, the next time we are confronted at work, on social media, on the street, or in an email, before we react, let’s start with following Jesus’ directions first – love and pray, and when done with those, then see if the next action might be a little more in the likeness of Him.

Reference: Matthew 5:44 (New Living Translation)