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 1320: Windows, Mirrors and Doors

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It’s pretty difficult imagining a world where we wouldn’t have windows, mirrors and doors.  We like to set up our offices where we have open door policies, or all sit in cube or bullpens where there are no doors.  But, we all know that every workspace needs at least one room with a door on it so that we can conduct confidential business when necessary.  Plus, we have to have a front door to lock when we leave.  Windowless environments (I don’t mean operating systems) can drive people batty after a while.  And, no mirrors in the restrooms would be unheard of doing.  Windows, mirrors and doors are basic to how we live and work.  And they are also metaphors to how we can view business.  Windows represent possibilities.  Doors represent opportunities.  And, mirrors represent reflections on what we can and can’t do with those things out the window or through the door.  What happens too often is that we become fixated on the windows and doors and we forget about paying attention to what the mirror is telling us.  We have all seen it before; a boss or a team who dream and talk big but never live up to either because they can’t deliver or just don’t know how to get from here to there.  If we paid as much time on our capability as we do our dreams and opportunities, we’d find that getting through the door to those things we could only see through the window, would be a lot easier.  Maybe time to install some mirrors?
I was in church recently in Los Angeles when the Pastor described the parables of Jesus as windows, doors and mirrors.  Windows being what God wants us to learn. Doors being how God can deliver us to those learnings.  Mirrors being what we must change within ourselves to realize what God has in store for us.  It’s so simple, but yet so profound. If we approach our purpose of bringing glory to God in all that we do, we will find that everywhere God speaks to us he is revealing windows, mirrors and doors.  Sometimes it feels like Jesus uses his carpentry skills right there on us!  Be on the lookout today for windows, mirrors and doors.  They will be all around you, if you want to see them!
Reference: The Parables of Jesus – New Testament