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 880: Capital: Part Two – Ideas

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“So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth”

New investors are exciting because they bring fresh thoughts and ideas to a business.  But, they also bring naive and inexperienced views to a business that they haven’t been in the trenches with long enough to begin making declarations.  The smart capital investors will take their time to listen, learn and then begin to express their thoughts/points of view. I have always encouraged anyone who is new into a situation to be sure for a good period of time to end every sentence with a question mark.  Anything other than that, even if it is a soft suggestion that ends in a period, will be heard as an exclamation point and cause the people who are taking the input to say things to themselves like; “What does she know?”, or “He hasn’t been here long enough to understand our business”, or “Who does he think he is?”.  These can all be avoided with intelligent and thought-provoking questions, such as, “Have we ever thought about this differently?”.  Simple to do, hard to stay to disciplined to do.  But, if we want our best ideas to be listened to and heard, we need to be sure that we have earned our place to provide that input.  Earning is different than purchasing the right, and that is where many new investors get tangled.  It’s a good thing to remember that no place in the terms or purchase agreement did it say that the investment provides the ability to have all ideas listened to and implemented.

We must also check ourselves in how we present our own ideas to others.  The same value of listening and learning before we speak can make a difference in our relationship with co-workers, bosses, customers, etc.  I have thought that part of the reason that Jesus taught in parables was because He wanted our minds to be reasoning and thinking while we listen/read His words.  He could have been really prescriptive in His directions but He chose another method, which gave Him so much credibility with so many because those on the receiving end could see and hear themselves in His words.  We should take that model to heart and think about what our words are expressing about who we are, and more importantly, what others are seeing as a reflection from us.  Let’s strive today for that reflection to be the face, mind and ideas of Christ.

Reference: 1 Corinthians 3:7