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 667: Service

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“There are different kinds of service, but we serve the same Lord.”

It’s not that abnormal to hear someone talk about “servant leadership” as a way of managing and leading. Books have been written on the subject and there are many seminars to attend, etc. But seldom do we hear that is is important to be a servant co-worker. To help others and to serve them is not something we talk about much. Yet, those who take the time to help others, and to “serve” them and their needs and priorities over their own usually turn out to be the people who others find their way to liking. It makes good sense but why is it so hard to be one of these people? If we don’t work for a servant leader then the idea of spending time on other people may not be recognized or rewarded from the boss so it doesn’t become a part of the culture. If we could all adopt the concept that we can and should serve others before ourselves, just think how much better the workplace would be? There’s no reason why this can’t be started, today. I have seen many a team or department full of servant co-workers and it can be traced back to one or a couple of people who infectiously and consistently maintain an attitude of servitude. So, why wait? Think about being the person in your company, or team to create a servant attitude culture starting today!

The idea of serving is universal and there are many ways to do so. What we are told by Paul is that regardless of how we serve we should continue to remember that the focus and the reason for our servitude comes from our service to the one Lord. As we serve others we want them to see our service of the Lord shining brightly through us. As we go about serving others, let us remember that we are doing so in His name and that our own consistent and willing attitude towards others can open up the door to share with others the message of our Lord. So, let us serve, serve always, and serve well, all in His name!

Reference: 1 Corinthians 12:5 (New Living Testament)