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 749: Victimization

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“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.”

I’m not sure how it happens, but it’s easy to fall into the role of the “victim” and then start posturing and acting that way. I see it a lot in businesses where things happen that are “out of their control” and instead of moving past those things with a plan that takes them forward, they get stuck where they are and become the victim. Once in that place it is hard to find the way back. If in a leadership role we are acting like victims then we can be very sure that the same is happening all through our companies. Once it becomes okay to blame the unknown or the faceless and nameless, then it becomes accepted to do the same with “they”. “They wouldn’t let me”, or “They aren’t supporting us”, or “They are the problem” are all victim statements. It’s worth stepping back for a moment and ensuring that there isn’t a thread of victimization that is running amok in your business.

We are not called to be victims in this life that we have been given. We are told that ours is not to be a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and love and self-discipline. We cannot portray those characteristics and traits in our lives if we are living as a victim. Sure, there are many things, all day long, that happen to us that are far from being in our control, but we have the promise of God with us and a gift of faith. There is no reason for us to ever feel the victim if we are trusting and believing that God has us in His hands. Is there are a part of us today who are playing the victim over something at work? Have we found ourselves sitting back and saying, “That’s their problem, not mine”? Let’s check ourselves today and be sure that we are not playing the victim and that we are working and living in the spirit that God desires for us.

Reference: 2 Timothy 1:7 (New Living Testament)