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 1111: The Power of One

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“And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.”

Of course, on day 1111, how could I not write of the power of one?  I first encountered this phrase in the workplace in the early 1990’s at PepsiCo, when the company was trying to drive cooperation and synergies across the diverse markets of snacks, beverages and fast food.  It became much more than a slogan as examples of cooperation and collaboration for when 1+1 would equal much more than 2, were not only recognized but also rewarded. It didn’t take much or very long until we were all looking and experimenting with new growth ideas.  Where the power of one fell short though was getting us to cooperate across division and department lines to find efficiency for the reduction of cost.  What I learned here is that the power of one can be construed also as the power and the watching out for #1! And, not it a good way. In hindsight the slogan was good, the growth was evident, but the deep dive and heavy lifting to create sustainable and enduring human behavior change was the most important element and the one that was missed. Anything we try to do to improve our businesses must come with a human change plan that will stick.  Anything short of that comes and goes and misses the full potential.

We are so fortunate to not have to debate or question the enduring power of one as we know and believe in the One who has the power to save all of us and the world. Jesus was clear that He is the Way and He is the One! When we consider all the different ways that we act and go about our daily work, are we truly leaning and depending on the power of our One?  It is so easy forget throughout the day to put God’s Word and teachings to work within our own work.  And when we forget or disregard the power that He wants us to have, then we are going into each day, each situation, each potential conflict or opportunity only humanly capable.  God wants us to have so much more.  He wants us to have His power.  He wants to flow the power of One through us to others. Today, can we accept that challenge and fulfill His desires for us?

Reference: John 17:3 (New Living Testament)