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 1214: Stranger Things

The man replied, “The one who showed him mercy.” Then Jesus said, “Yes, now go and do the same.

Some people are just more comfortable with strangers. Maybe for the rest of us it is because we listened as children and we just can’t over that we aren’t supposed to talk to strangers.  But, before someone becomes a customer or an employee, they are first strangers.  If we can find a way to be more comfortable with dealing with strangers, then we open up a broader universe of possibilities.  If we can’t get there, then we need others in our companies who don’t hesitate when coming by strangers. Being open and accessible to strangers opens many good opportunities that there is no way to predict.

We are taught to befriend strangers.  The Good Samaritan exemplified how Christ accepts all into His Kingdom.  When we befriend, support and lift up those who are strangers then we are like acting out the ways of the Good Samaritan.  When we get so insulated within the same people, many who just like us, we shut down our opportunity to be expansive in our example and messaging of God’s way for us. The stranger today may be the person in the elevator, in a meeting, or at the break table.  What can we do today to turn a stranger into someone who tomorrow we say hi as if we know them?

Reference: Luke 10:37 (New Living Translation)