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 904: Political Quarrels

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“Beginning a quarrel is like opening a floodgate, so drop the matter before a dispute breaks out.”

All around us it seems there are arguments happening. It is political season after all and that seems to stir the pot more than anything else.  Political views usually get checked at the office door, or at least in smart organizations that happens. But, let’s not fool ourselves, politics is how business operates and is more of an organizational fiber than we like.  Politics don’t have to be bad, but in most cases when there is disagreement we can see full fledged quarrels break out and when that happens things can happen that are hard to repair.  How do we avoid quarrels in the workplace?  Diffusing tension is a skill and we should hope that we always have someone in the room who is adept at keeping emotions at bay.  Sometimes it is the humor person, sometimes the boss, sometimes just someone who helps everyone see the middle ground. But, when that isn’t there, we can be sitting on powderkegs that are just looking to be ignited. 

It’s risky business for us to put ourselves in situations where we are going to quarrel with someone else in the office.  As Solomon says, “Beginning a quarrel is like opening a floodgate”.  What we say or do in the heat of battle and at the height of emotion can ruin our example with just one word.  Jesus is the great repairer but let’s now have to have Him clean up after us for this reason.  With a closed mouth, a deep breathe, a count to 10, or a prayer offered up, we can avoid the danger and keep a Christlike example for others.

Reference: Proverbs 17:14 (New Living Testament)