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 920: Executive Offsites

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“On that day, when the evening had come, He said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.”

I happened to be on the TripAdvisor site recently and saw something posted about the best locations for executive offsite meetings.  I’ve always been a fan of “retreats” for getting away for the best thinking to occur. It’s just too hard to stop and think when the emails and phone calls are coming in like the waves of the ocean; continuously and some with mighty crashes.  So, it’s good to get away and find quiet time and to build relationships among team members.  But, what has happened to the executive retreats, as demonstrated in the best locations list, is that the emphasis can be put on the extravagances of the resort, the activities and the extraordinary food and drink.  Then what could and should be productive and constructive turns out to be misconstrued by others as too lavish and wasteful of time and money.  When that happens the rest of the company starts to talk about these meetings as “boondoggles” and a bunch of fluff.  What could have been time very well spent for the business becomes a joke within the company and culture. If we are at the top of our organizations (company, department, function, team, etc.) we should guard from this happening and manage carefully the perception as that perception can and will become a reality, like it or not.

Jesus was one who knew how to work closely with those who wanted and could spread His message.  He chose a select few to mentor and disciple and He spent countless hours of intimate time with these men.  And, that time was multiplied across generations and reverberate today through God’s Word.  He was happy to take the time to get away and fellowship and teach in a small group.  What can we learn from this example?  Each of us can be like Jesus and find our own small group of believers who need small group fellowship and time with each other.  What is so blessed about this time is that when we gather in His name the chief of all executives sits at the table with us and will preside over our time and conversations. Are there others with whom you work who need this kind of “executive offsite” time?  Can you be the one to coordinate and pull them together?

Reference: Mark 4:35 (New Living Translation)