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 954: Troubling

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“My experience shows me that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.”

It’s hard to fathom but in every company there are troublemakers and sometimes not innocent ones (if such a thing) but hardcore troublemakers. A friend of mine works in a company that has over a hundred thousand full and part-time employees.  He has to remind his co-workers that his company is the same size of small city/big town and that in a place that size, well should we expect that everyone will be good, above board and pure?  Of course not.  Maybe if our background checks are so thorough then we wouldn’t have anyone slip through the cracks.  But, as we know, that is impossible.  So, we have to be cognizant that even in our good companies that not all the company is good.  It’s why, even though we don’t like it, that sometimes rules and regulations will keep the bad people from hurting others.  When we see people go to jail because of what they have done within companies, I can assure you that the people who hired that person, promoted that person, gave that person their personal fortunes, never in their wildest dreams would have thought it would turn out the way it did. So, let’s keep our guard up and be sure that we are weeding out and not allowing any hint of impropriety or corruption. 

In the book of Job we read that the experience that what we have ourselves is age-enduring.  We can’t allow others and certainly we can’t be involved in another planting or cultivating of trouble.  Ours, as believers, is not to be those who traffic in trouble.  When the pressure is on and our backs are up against the wall, ask God to stand with us so that when others have turned their heads or backs, that we don’t find ourselves creating or bringing on trouble that could destroy the witness we have built up. There is much at stake and we need to recognize and respect what can happen if we don’t stay above board and in the good.

Reference: Job 4:8 (New Living Translation)