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 705: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

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“Show respect for everyone. Love your Christian brothers and sisters. Fear God, show respect for the king. You who are slaves must accept the authority of your masters. Do whatever they tell you – not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are harsh.”

It’s not unusual to hear cheap shots and disses being thrown around the office about the competition, the boss, and other co-workers. Why is it so easy to just spout off and say something that is so disrespectful? It may be that the other party is not standing there to provide a rebuttal. But, it’s also too many times part of the bravado of building ourselves up by tearing down others. When I hear CEOs do it against other companies and other leaders, I think it just pulls down their own credibility and authority. The truth of the matter is that if we can’t find someway to respect others and give them the credit that they are due, then we will never fine-tune and sharpen ourselves to become better. If we lower the bar on others then why should we or our organizations and teams jump higher? The greatest respect comes from giving credit where credit is due, examining and finding where they are better than we are, and ensuring that we then make our own improvements.

As we work with others, we are to show our proper respect to everyone, regardless of position, stature, opinions, or how we are treated by them. Wow, is this ever hard? Especially when just about everyone and everything around us is taunting us to do just the opposite? The crowd loves to tear down the weak, but we are to stand up for the weak and the broken! As we go through today, can we pick out the people who are due some respect and reach to them and pay them the respect we are taught that they deserve. A simple act and word of respect can go an unlimited number of miles. Let it dwell in our spirit and find ways to pay a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T!

Reference: 1 Peter 2:17-18 (New Living Testament)