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 1371: WHEN THE BUCK STOPS!

purposed worKING No Comments

“And this is my covenant with them, that I will take away their sins.”


As leaders, managers, or in today’s world, even those who work someplace where we have influence over decisions that are made that could affect others, we need to be careful and constructive in those decisions.  We seldom see examples of leaders who step up when things go wrong.  Some will do it and admit that the buck stops with them, but they won’t accept the full responsibility, which many times would lead to a resignation or some other type of repercussion.  Last week we saw a leader do so though when South Korean Prime Minister, Chung Hong-won, resigned after the failed rescue of the ferry that capsized. I found this interestingly juxtaposed with the firing of a number of the GM senior execs, but not the CEO.  I know, she is new, but remember, she was on the senior team and has been with the company for 34 years. I’m not saying that she should have been fired, but when the buck stops, it must stop somewhere and the best of the best leaders know it stops with them. Anything short of that, can feel like lip service to leadership.

Who would take the sins of all the world and allow Himself to be crucified?  We know who and we also know that if in our work we are going to try and lead a life set by His example that we can’t not take responsibility and accountability when it is ours.  If we try and pass the blame or shirk our part of a decision or action, we are not worKING to His glory.  It’s not any fun when the buck stops with us, but it is what we have to be willing to do.

Reference: Romans 11:27 (New Living Translation)