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 679: Summer Hours

purposed worKING 2 Comments

“Lazy people are a pain to their employer. They are like smoke in their eyes or vinegar that sets the teeth on edge.”

It is officially the first full work week of summer and many businesses have now moved into summer hours where with a little shifting of the schedule Friday afternoons are “off” and employees are encouraged to make the most of the weekends. In the places I worked where we had summer hours it was a great thing, even though it sometimes caused a we vs. they with those who had to work over the weekends, but for the most part it was a welcomed time of the year. However, what would happen with summer hours is that it also brought out those who not only wanted to cut the corner of the summer hours, but would try and take advantage of it to slack off even further. Maybe it is just summer, but the lazy days and lazy attitudes can cause real strife and concern in the business. In this day and age, management is watching for productivity more than ever and whatever looks like laziness is going to get called out and remembered, so let’s not let these summer hours, or this summer be a time where we drift into becoming lazy about our work.

Proverbs tells how an employer reacts to lazy workers. It is not good and Solomon’s descriptors are vivid reminders that we don’t want to ever be thought of as lazy. Beyond wanting to be considered good and hard workers for our career management and advancement, we also don’t want to be lazy as an example for others. God has given us plenty of work to do and He promises us strength and power in our work, so if we are lazy in anything that we do, then we are telling and showing others that our God doesn’t really provide, or that we don’t care about the example that we set for others. Let’s be real, we are always being watched, evaluated and compared and at the most base level, our ability to demonstrate that we are never lazy, but instead bring to our jobs a strong work ethic, can provide a foundation of credibility with others. As we go into summer, let’s not slip into “summer hours” that aren’t of a standard that we would want others to admire and respect.

Reference: Proverbs 10:26 (New Living Testament)