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 1038: Cliffs

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“All living things—the fish in the sea, the birds of the sky, the animals of the field, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and all the people on earth—will quake in terror at my presence. Mountains will be thrown down; cliffs will crumble; walls will fall to the earth.”

And so, we face yet another “cliff”.  The media likes to find names and monikers for events that signify “the end”.  This time it is the “Fiscal Cliff”.  While I don’t want to make light of the decision that our government officials need to make, I do think that it is good to recognize that each of us in our businesses reach our own “cliffs” and have to decide in what direction we are going to proceed.  What we have learned to do is to minimize the impact and severity of these decisions to everyone in the company.  In the Boardroom or the Executive Suite, these types of decisions are made routinely. The old saying is, “no one wants to see inside of the sausage factory”.  That is a true statement and in business decisions or areas where before there is agreement, there is disagreement, that holds even more true.  What the media and government are doing to us today is putting us down on the sausage factory floor and pulling us all through the dysfunction.  It is fair to say, that if we were spared this, that our confidence in those making the decisions, might well go up.  We know this in business and it is a good thing to remember as we go through our own business “cliffs”.

In God’s Word we are reminded of many “cliffs” that were faced, fought, won and lost.  God has not hesitated in showing us the results of disobedience through time.  He also has shown us what the future will look like after He comes again.  But instead of letting us sit and wallow in fear and anxiety, He gives us promises of His grace and redemption.  The human experience is about facing “cliffs” and if we believe, trust and follow in Him those “cliffs” are nothing more than obstacles that will be overcome, challenges to be met, and moments to stand strong and tall in our faith.  Let us each face forward with confidence and assurance to the “cliffs” that are in front of us at work and at home.

Reference: Ezekiel 38:20 (New Living Translation)