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 1905: Teams and Rivals

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“Anyone who isn’t with me opposes me, and anyone who isn’t working with me is actually working against me.”

Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote her book, “Team of Rivals” about the rivalry that took place across politics before and after President Lincoln was elected.  Her book chronicled the internal rivalry within the President’s own administration. This was the team who were rivals. Today, in politics, we don’t get teams that have rivals upon them.  All we get is the rival between the teams that we call parties.  This rivalry is what causes our partisan and opposing government to be more often than not these days, not productive. As ironic as it sounds, the team of rivals is what can get things done because the internal politics get worked out and aligned before they meet the real competition.  This leads us to understanding how to create cultures of inclusiveness and respect of each others’ point of view. There is no perfect balance but I am reminded that management legend Alfred Sloan never moved forward with any management or Board resolution that was unanimous because those proposals didn’t represent a balance or the best thinking.  But once, decided, the teams aligned and moved forward in formation. So, let’s consider how we bring together a team that can operate inclusively and with the best of thinking.

I have been thinking about the team that Jesus banded together. They followed Jesus coming from different walks of life. They were different and Jesus knew, even before He recruited them that they were both strong and weak, committed and also skeptical, dedicated but also able to betray.  Yet, He brought them together to change the course of the world, also knowing that He would shortly be leaving them on their own.  And like the rest of us, they were the full range of the human condition’s weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Yet, He still called them and He calls us. God knows that we are all different and He appreciates that, otherwise He wouldn’t accept as we are, but once on His team, we must align towards Him and allow our worldly differences to align with Him.

Reference: Luke 11:23 (New Living Translation)