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 781: Best Of Lists…

purposed worKING No Comments

“for they loved human praise more than the praise of God.”

It’s that time of the year when the “Best of Lists” start to get formulated. Yesterday in the newspaper there was an insert for the American Bar Association’s Best Local Attorneys. It was a long list, sliced and diced by every specialty. And for sure there will be plaques and recognition happening in each of the offices of the named firms and people as they begin to market the accolades for their new business. The same will happen over the next couple of months in every industry and across the corporate world in every business trade magazine. We love our lists and we love to see who will be on this year’s list, or not. Some of those lists cost lots of money to reach, but for most it is worth it to be able to say that they got there. Recognition remains important and we could do even better jobs of being sure that the same level of emphasis we put on the external lists, we be sure an put on our internal people and their accomplishments. Let’s not forget that peer recognition is as powerful, if not more powerful than any other form.

Yes, we all need recognition and we all need praise every now and then. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t get a little boost from it when it comes their way. But, as we know, it is fleeting and sometimes comes with extra pressure to perform going forward. There is only one praise that lasts and comes with no extra requirements and that is the praise that God showers down on us when He sees us pursuing and living for Him. We’ve got to be careful that we don’t put the emphasis on praise from people over praise from God. If that happens we should know that we have our priorities in the wrong order. Today, take a moment and ask yourself what praise is that you are seeking and which is more important? If we are honest with ourselves the answer can help us make the necessary course corrections of life.

Reference: John 12:43 (New Living Testament)