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 3K203: I’m Moving…

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“So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”

Many a business book has sold well on the idea of all of us being movable, adaptable and open and ready for change. It’s the way of business today. If we can’t change and react rapidly we get left behind or obsoleted. I have seen many an organization that was so flexible to change that change became the driver for the company. These are the organizations where every six months there is a major reorganization of the company and it can sometimes feel like the only constant is change. What I watch out for and fear in those companies is that there comes a sense that they must change for the sake of changing without any firm strategic or directional footing. Change for the sake of change itself is not all that organizationally healthy. As workers in a company, we are asked to change individually as well as corporately. We have to flex with the new initiatives, the new boss, the new co-worker, sometimes the new owner of the business. We have to be corporate chameleons sometimes because the colors around us change so fast. There is a watch out here too. That warning is that we can’t be changing our own values and principles to just satisfy the direction de’jour. We have to be centered and grounded somewhere. The new boss that has a whole different approach to how people are treated or what is appropriate as actions in a company setting, can set a new tone that we are going to be expected to adapt to, to go with the flow, and to be considered good at change. But there are sometimes where we must be immovable.

Just because we are believers doesn’t mean that it is any easier to see all of the changes that are coming at us. Of course, the big changes are obvious but like the frog in the warming water, sometimes it is hard to see it coming. Paul says to us, “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable. Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.” Paul is telling us that if we work enthusiastically for the Lord first, then we will be able to be immovable in those areas where we need to be steadfast and rock solid. Today, you may be asking yourself in the mirror questions and wondering who you have become? It is never too late to return to where you know you need to be immovable. Today, would be a great day to make the move back to where you know you and God want you to be.

Reference: 1 Corinthians 15:58 (New Living Testament)