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 1091: A Big Policy Change

purposed worKING No Comments

“As for me, I am in your hands—do with me as you think best.”

Last week there was a big hullabaloo about Yahoo!’s CEO, Marissa Mayer, calling back into the office all of the people who have been telecommuting.  There are people on both sides of this decision.  Some think it way to draconian and a take-away from the benefits that people have earned at Yahoo!.  Others, myself included, understand the decision and expect that this is a season that the company will go through and if the goals are met, then working from home could be restored.  There are many schools of thought as to why Mayer made this decision.  I suspect that in the turnaround mode the company is now in and the fact that Yahoo! long ago lost the edge in innovation that she is bringing people back together to find some sparks and see what can happen if ideas begin to flow more quickly and fluidly across Yahoo!’s employees.  I also think that when new in the CEO seat that one attempts to establish a work ethic, performance standard and achievement bar.  It may well be that she will sort the wheat from the chaff just by seeing who decides to comply and who decides to leave.  Lastly, I do think there will be turnover from the decision and for Yahoo! that is probably okay. Voluntary attrition is always better than forced layoffs and if they were already considering having to pare the workforce, this is a good way to do so.  It will be a big decision for many people.  Good news for the telecommuters who can’t change is that the employment market is hot and there are plenty of other companies who need skilled talent that could care less where or when you work, as long as the job gets done.

As human beings we don’t like being told what to do if what it is we are being asked conflicts with what we want.  We don’t mind being “led”, but we dislike being “controlled”.  The controlling part of Yahoo!’s decision is certainly part of the backlash.  What I love about our Lord is that He gives us plenty of rules on how we are to live and conduct ourselves, but he constantly pulls us to Him versus push us.  We may not always like what we hear from Him, but ours is a love, faith and commitment that starts with a surrendering of ourselves just like Jesus surrendered His life for us.  We are in the lent season where those in the Catholic and liturgically based religions will “give up something for Lent” as a way of reminding ourselves daily how and what He gave up for us.  Today as we think about what is being asked of us, let’s follow the words in Jeremiah and say to God, “As for me, I am in your hands—do with me as you think best.”.  Remember, God never changes His rules or policies.  But, it is ours to follow them willingly and with full surrender.

Reference: Jeremiah 26:14 (New Living Translation)