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 621: Taking A Good Look

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“For if you just listen and don’t obey, it is like looking at your face in a mirror ad doing nothing to improve your appearance”

I am the last one to be writing about the importance of looking our best all the time, as I tend to just normally under dress for the occasion, but I am self-aware enough to know that there is a time for putting it all on, even though I may not like it. But, how we dress at work is only part of our overall self-appearance and consequently, our impact in certain situations. How we carry ourselves, the expression on our face, our energy level, our attitude, can all overshadow how we appear. The definition of our appearance is broad and something to be monitored. I have participated in too many meetings where someone doesn’t get the job because the candidate didn’t appear to care, or didn’t appear to have their act together, or didn’t appear to be disciplined, etc. So, how we show up in our appearance is important and like any time when we are trying to sell ourselves we must be able to read our audience and take into account how others may be perceiving us. When in doubt about this, ask someone you trust and then listen carefully to what they have to say. They just might tell you more than you want to hear, but still listen and make those changes.

James gives us a similar direction for our spiritual lives and tells us that if we don’t listen to God’s Word and direction and then obey what we have learned, then it is no different than ignoring our appearance that needs to be improved. Just as we might lose out on the job because of our appearance, we can lose out on so much more if we ignore what God has put right in front of us in His Word. As you think about your overall appearance, take a good look inside too and ensure that you aren’t ignoring where God is telling you to improve. Listen and obey and God will do the rest.

Reference: James 1:23 (New Living Testament)