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 805: The Rise Of Productivity

purposed worKING No Comments

“Our people must learn to do good by meeting the urgent needs of others; then they will not be unproductive.”

The rise of productivity as a key measurement is nothing new, but in the last three years we have put the focus on this number more than I can ever remember. Analysts are obsessed with how much productivity a company is returning. That is, how much are they getting done with the least number of people they can. I mean, I get it, but taken to the extreme, which is what we tend to be doing in all that we do in the business world these days, a high productivity number can lead to unwanted results like burn-out, morale issues, turnover, etc. As in most, if not all things, moderation is called upon to help us be able to manage over the long run. If we are solely focused on the short-term and an indicator like productivity we can lose sight of the bigger picture and certainly the needs of our people. Let’s not allow ourselves to become fixated on productivity as it will drive us to other measures that could be more harmful in the long run.

If each of us want to be the most productive in whatever we do, then we have to learn to give it up for ourselves in order to help and assist others. When we do that, we are being truly productive in a definition that is beyond a measure. Too much of our time can be spent on ourselves and what we want to do and we can lose what and should be our true focus. How much time are we spending on the needs of others versus our own? If seems really weird to have on our to-do list to take care of the needs of those around us, but that is what we are called to do. If we do, then we will see the rise in our productivity with a return that goes toward the Kingdom. Consider that definition of productivity for our pure and authentic measurement.

Happy Martin Luther King Day. Purposed worKING will be back on Tuesday the 17th.

Reference: Titus 3:14 (New Living Testament)