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 593: Displacement: Part 5, Malicious Behavior

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This is the last post in this five part series on Displacement. We have been exploring what needs to be displaced in our work and the rest of our lives in order to allow other good things to be replacements. The final area to discuss is a both an emotion and a behavior. It has to do with what we will do and to what extremes we will do it to get ahead in our jobs and our careers. It is not unusual to hear people put down other people while we are working. In fact, if you listen carefully for it, it is very common and remarkably widely accepted. “He never called back, She didn’t finish the job, He dropped the ball, She let the team down, He blew off the assignment, She never showed up, He could care less, She is only out for herself”, and on and on and on it goes. Everyday, all day long. Then we wonder why we fall into the pattern so easily and before we even recognize it we have become malicious in how we undermine or put ourselves in front of someone else. Maybe it is more human nature than we think since it comes out so naturally. There is also an extreme to this that would be found unacceptable to just about anyone but still happens, and this is when actual behaviors show up that cause someone else from being able to do their jobs or being dragged down so that someone else can look better. This is true maliciousness. How do we ensure that we don’t go down that road or that we don’t get caught up in the wrong words and behaviors? This is where we must replace and displace this with thoughts and words of wanting to see others succeed, wanting to see others grow and develop, wanting to see others do well and wanting all of this regardless of where it leaves our stature or position in the organization. We have to stop putting ourselves first and instead replace this with putting others ahead of us. And yes, this will be alright and no, we won’t lose our position because we want to see someone else succeed. Now is the time to get rid of any malicious feelings, thoughts or tendencies. Paul tells us this clearly; “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of malicious behavior.” What is in our minds and hearts will become behaviors. Now is the time to get rid of it all. Keep Ephesians 4:31 in your mind and heart. The lesson of displacement is a daily lesson to be relearned over and over.

Reference: Ephesians 4:31 (New Living Testament)