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 1116: Battery Problems, Part 1: Small Things

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“I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God’s law will disappear until its purpose is achieved.”

 When Boeing built the new Dreamliners, the Boeing 787s, little did they imagine that from all of the very new and sophisticated technology, that it would be the batteries that would cause them the greatest problems. An airplane not in the air is an asset that is wasting money.  And that is what has happened with the fleet of new planes as they sit grounded until the battery problem is fixed.  Patti and I were talking the other day about what the concerns will be for airlines when travelers find that they have been booked on one of these. It could be that the battery problem was the tip of the iceberg.  This should be a reminder to all of us that it can be the smaller parts of our businesses that can cause us the bigger problems.  We can get so focused on all of the big stuff that we overlook the impact of the small things and how they can blow up on us and take on a life of their own and make everything else look miniscule when that happens.  As we build and improve, let’s be sure and keep our eyes on the “battery problems” of our business to be sure that we don’t run into something similar.
Yes, the small things in our lives when not paid attention and cared for can become a bigger problem. What is also interesting is that those small things seem so humanly controllable that we don’t necessarily bring God into them and well, that is when the problems can really turn on us.  It’s kind of like the ember that pops out of the fireplace and on to the hearth.  It seems easy to stomp on it and it can go away.  But when it pops beyond the hearth and catches the napkin or other flammable material and that starts to burn before we can put it out, then we realize how out of control a small thing can get, so fast. In our own lives these can be the white lies, the pride, the shortcuts, the uncalled for word, that will trip us up and can become big problems before we know.  Once they begin to pile up and escalate, then we best be ready to call in God if we think that we can overcome them. The lesson is one better to be learned before it is needed; invite God into the small problems now and let Him fix them for us!
Reference: Matthew 5:18 (New Living Translation)