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 998: Star Power

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“Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve”

I woke this morning and did my usual routine of media intake and I was struck today by a few stories that reinforced to me that star power is not enough.  What do I mean by that?  Two very well-known superstar entrepreneurs who were splashed all across every newspaper, blog and magazine six months ago were back on the front page of the New York Times this morning defending why their service has not grown. Once over-the-top supporters are now backpedaling and questioning the viability and desire for the product.  It’s not an unusual story for a company to come into the market and fail – just think about the corner restaurant. What struck me again today was how we continue to think and put our bets on those with star power, over maybe substance, experience and deep knowledge.  Our culture has become American Idolish and we must guard against this in the workplace.  Keeping touch on what is real versus what is perceived is hard but as we make people decisions, it is critical.

So, as believers, how does this matter to us?  First and foremost, we can remind ourselves that we serve a King and that all else falls short.  Second, we can be the standard bearers in looking through the veneer and instead to the hearts and minds of people and lean towards values and principles first as the determination.  Third, we can conduct ourselves today, and everyday, in the model of Jesus, who refused and fled the moniker of “star”. Without a doubt, He was and is a light to us all, but he never wanted or expects us to be one that needs star power.

Reference: Joshua 24:15 (New Kings James Version)