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 802: Negotiating Principles, Part 1 – Equal Footing

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“And the Lord said, “Then, for the sake of the ten, I will not destroy it. The Lord went on his way when he had finished his conversation with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his tent.”

I was part of a negotiations recently where both sides of the table tried to act that they were on equal footing. The truth of the matter is that someone is always lesser than the other side and it’s important to know who is who, and most importantly to know which party you are. If the other side is the strong side of the negotiations and we try and play on the same plane we run the risk of being seen as disrespectful. If it is the other way around and we don’t understand that we are the stronger player and miss this then we can come across as arrogant or overbearing. A great deal is one where both sides feel like there is a win and that starts with knowing and appreciating each other. Knowing where we each stand is an important part of that process.

When Abraham negotiated with the Lord about the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, he did out of the greatest respect and humility. Abraham certainly knew where he stood in relation to God. Abraham had no power or leverage. All he could do was reach to the Lord for an understanding and appreciation of his request. Many times in Genesis Chapter 18 we read that Abraham requested the Lord to make concessions but not before each time he spoke he would humble himself before the Lord. It’s worth reading the Chapter to understand the example that Abraham is giving us. To reach someone else for what we need, we should humble ourselves to them so they will listen and appreciate what we are requesting. Consider today how much can be gained by taking this approach.

Reference: Genesis Chapter 18