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 1333: Travoltify It

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“Their own tongues will ruin them, and all who see them will shake their heads in scorn.”
You’d have to be living in a cave to not have heard of John Travolta’s mangling of Idina Menzel’s name during his introduction of her on Sunday night’s Oscar telecast.  By most accounts, it seemed it was an honest mistake, but when on the biggest stage, an honest mistake can turn into a major gaff and news story.  Of course, we learn once again about the power of social media when the next day on Facebook an app appears where you can put in your own name and out spits how Travolta would say it.  My name would be “Ramsey Reez”. One mistake and we can have our name, company name, or brand forever associated with the error.  When in time has it ever been more important to be really careful out there?

Earlier this week I wrote of the power of the slip of the tongue.  Today only reinforces that same message, but not just in the bad words that we may use, but also in the care with which we speak. The truth, the careful examination of the words we choose to criticize, and even the times when we need to remember someone’s name, can all be moments of powerful reinforcement of how we have chosen to live and act, or a disappointment to the One who asks us to live for Him.  Let us today, be in control of what we say.

Reference:  Psalm 64:8 (New Living Translation)