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 1332: Respecting Those Who Came Before Us

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“The godly walk with integrity; blessed are their children who follow them.”

Two weekends ago Patti and I visited her past boss from PepsiCo.  Even after all these years, I still see him as the senior executive who led the company into and through some of its most exciting days.  We are all “grown up” now, but some things can’t be let go of and being with him always gives me a special feeling of being in the presence of one of those people who was the best of the best in industry.  Corporate memory is short and once a person is gone from the company, they will soon be forgotten.  Apple announced yesterday that their long time CFO is retiring.  I remember when Steve Jobs promoted him up from being the Controller of the company.  But, will a new college Finance hire, five years from now even know of Peter Oppenheimer?  Will she/he ever benefit from his experience and learning?  We need to find a way to better institutionalize corporate and executive history.  Maybe it’s time to provide oral/video histories as a way for new employees to be oriented and have self development?  I don’t know, but its something for us to think about.

In our spiritual lives we have giants in faith that have come before us and who still walk among us today.  Rather than letting them come and go, we can deepen our own spiritual being by reading these men and women, listening and watching them teach, and even reaching to them to meet and spend time.  More people are accessible than we imagine. All we have to do is ask.  That is the example of our God.  He is always accessible.  All we have to do is ask.  We should also be living in that example as there is someone in our workplace today who is struggling and needs us to be there for them, for them to learn from and carry that lesson forward.  Let’s open ourselves up today for that moment to be there. We have no way of knowing if that moment might not be the one that opens their future that will always remember.

Reference: Proverbs 20:7 (New Living Translation)