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 775: Do The Right Thing – Part 7: Arm In Arm

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“And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”

Much of business is about knowing who is a good partner. From the top to the bottom this is a real consideration that must be thought about carefully and continuously. If our businesses were so vertically integrated that we never needed any partners, how great would that be? But no business is that self-sufficient or able to do so. Raw materials have to come from somewhere and a partner must be sourced to ensure that the highest quality, regular supply and best price can be obtained. That’s just one example. There are also partners for going to market, for strategic leverage, for advice and counsel, for spaces to work, etc. We have to lock arms with other people everyday and in the decision we have to be sure that the work we are doing and the partners we have all come together in a way that is right and good for the company. I have seen situations where companies have nearly been destroyed because they locked arms with the wrong partner and through no fault of their own, other than a bad selection decision, nearly lost their companies. Who we lock arms with is an important decision.

We would like to think that all we do and how we do it would be so pleasing to God that we could be locked arm and arm with Him and together He would feel good about where we went, what we did, who we were with, etc. When I was growing up my fire and brimstone southern baptist preacher used to ask, “If Jesus had you by the arm, would you be proud to introduce Him wherever you went?” That question would get me thinking about what I was doing, where I was going and with whom I was associating. If Jesus was locked arm in arm with us on one side, who are locked arm in arm on the other? Would He be happy and would you be proud to make the introductions? Who we associate with or who we just hang out with have an influence on us. If we are surrounding ourselves with people who are positive and who can help us grow, then we are so much better off than the opposite. At work we can’t always choose who are arm and arm with in our jobs, but we have decisions that we can make about how we let others influence us and either make us better or tear us down. It’s a part of thinking to consider about whether or not we are truly doing the right thing.

Reference: Colossians 3:17 (New Living Testament)