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 610: The Meaning of Yes and No

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“You may be asking why I changed my plan. Hadn’t I made up my mind yet? Or am I like people of the world who say yes when they really mean no?”

It can sound like a harsh question, but it is effective; “What part of no don’t you understand?” While none of us like to be told no, the best leaders know how to say no as well as they do yes. In fact, for these leaders, the word no is an absolute and others around them can count on them to be focused on getting rid of the extraneous and keeping alive only the important and critical. The single-minded approach to those things that matter and rejecting the rest is a real skill. I think highly of leaders who are comfortable with the word no. What I have also recognized is that these leaders carry with them a level of respect and experience that those who are being said no to don’t whine or cry, because they know that there was thought and fairness that comes with the answer. I worked with a CEO who was like that and how I wish every CEO had the same trait.

We are so much better off truly saying no versus allowing others to think that we meant yes, or that we come back later after precious time and effort has been put into a project and change our minds to no. Let us understand that the word no can carry with it a level of caring, respect and deliberate thought that others would far prefer. It is better to be leveled with and just have no said. When we earn that credibility with those that we work with, it gives us even greater opportunity and impact to hold up an example that they would like to follow and know more about. This is all part of us bringing God to work with us and being the role model that He wants us to be.

Reference: 2 Corinthians 1:17 (New Living Testament)