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 889: Background Accuracy

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“I don’t want anyone to think more highly of me than what they can actually see in my life and message.”

The removal of Yahoo’s CEO is a front page news story because once again, we see a senior executive not telling the truth.  And we wonder why we don’t trust CEOs and companies?  I know the process of hiring a senior executive very well and in this case there were many misses that could have been easily avoided had everyone from the candidate, to the recruiting agency, to internal HR team who might have been working with the Board, whoever had responsibility for the background check, and of course, the Board itself and whoever was leading the search committee.  Wow, this story just goes to show the magnification of making a mistake but it also points to the importance of ensuring integrity is the backbone of the values and principles of a company.  Beyond the “miss”, there was also the long days from the time of disclosure that it took the Board to make the decision to oust the CEO.  For many, that was just as troubling as missing that he has falsified his education credentials.  The fact that there was some debate over his removal could also be seen as a sign of integrity not being a foundational value of the company.  Let’s consider and realize that this moment is one that should remind us that who we say we are and what we do are significantly intertwined and are being watched my many.

This lesson stands true in our own professional and personal lives as well. Paul tells us that he had real, legitimate and accountable feats to boast about but in the likeness of Jesus, he chose not to do so and instead wanted to be sure that the congruity between who he said he was and what he did was as flawless as a man could make it to be. It is a great lesson for each of us as there are many moments a day when we have the opportunity to inflate a story, or build up just a little our part in the effort, or position ourselves slightly in better light than others.  Let’s check ourselves today and do our own background check to be sure that we are aren’t allowing ourselves to think more highly of who we are than what others can see.

Reference: 2 Corinthians 12:6b (New Living Testament)