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 1017: Affiliations

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“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”

Coming out of this political season it seems like the badges of red or blue might be more sticky than in any time in my lifetime.  Even just a week after the election we already have sides being strengthened and drawn and the lunchroom political banter persists.  It wasn’t always this way but in this age of the 24-7 news cycle with media outlets targeted specifically to political affiliations and the new personal expression outlets of social media like Facebook and Twitter feeding a return loop, the cycle probably never ends.  We are in a new normal and this era we will be politically charged at all times. What is important is that we don’t try and take politics and say that because we know who someone voted for that we think we know who they are. That is reading the book by the cover and we all know enough that that level of superficiality is not only disrespectful, it is also intellectually lazy and thereby dangerous. The messages all around us want us to listen to the soundbites and believe all of what we hear and read.  Beware, because as we know, things are not always as they appear. If we want to affiliate a company or a person then let’s do that based on long-term actions and results and be open to others beyond a one dimensional affiliation.

I was recently reminded of a song that we sang in church when I was a child. As I reflected on the words, it made me think that we should all take them to work with us today. The words are based on John 13:35 and both the words and music were written by Peter Scholtes. This is what we must stand up to as our challenge!

“They’ll Know We Are Christians by our Love”

We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
And we pray that all unity will one day be restored:

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand,
And together we’ll spread the news that God is in our land:

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
And we’ll guard each one’s dignity and save each one’s pride:

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

All praise to the Father, from whom all things come,
And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son,
And all praise to the Spirit, who makes us one:

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love,
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Reference: John 13:35