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 3K199: Minding Our Business

purposed worKING No Comments

“Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.”

We think we know what it means to call something a business. A business is an entity that comes together to create, or sell, or service for the sake of making money. And with a business comes lots of dynamics to manage. And of course a business has to have at least one person involved. There can’t be a business that doesn’t have people attached to it. Even those who try their hardest to do it with the least number of people, must have a person. But, there is a another collection of entities that can make up a business. I’ve been fortunate enough to be able to go to Africa and learn a little bit about the animals of the continent. One of the animals that we saw while on safari was the mongoose. A mongoose is defined as: “a slender, ferret like carnivore, Herpestes edwardsi, of India, that feeds on rodents, birds, and eggs, noted especially for its ability to kill cobras and other venomous snakes.” And guess what they call a collection of mongoose? Yes, they are called a “business” too. So, as we go to work and we consider the business we are in, we might want to think about why it is so important for our business to not take on the characteristics of the collection of mongoose. Businesses can take on ugly characteristics and we have to manage both collectively and individually to control our cultures and make our businesses as positive as we can.

As believers we can’t allow ourselves to fall into the trap of being like all others. The “business” pull us to a place that if we don’t manage carefully and actively, we can end up becoming someone that we might not recognize when we look at ourselves in the mirror. Each day is a day of choices that we must make in our actions and behaviors. This week, today, let’s not be mistaken for being a part of the culture that would look more like a business of mongoose. But instead, let’s follow what Paul asks us to do and conduct ourselves in a manner that holds up to what Christ calls us to be. We are daily walking, speaking and living examples of whatever role model we choose to be. Call upon God to help you know the difference and to be the person that you can be for Him. Check in on yourself today.

Reference: Philippians 1:27 (New Living Translation)