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 538: The Opposite Reaction

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Every once in a while we are fortunate enough to be the presence of someone who has a opposite reaction to what we expect and we are amazed. Usually we don’t want opposite reactions. Usually we want a predictable and expected response but in one particular case, the “opposite reaction” is extraordinary and this is when someone is being rewarded, getting thanked, or being showered with accolades. It is at this moment that the opposite reaction is always the best. In fact, if the reaction is genuinely opposite then we will actually go and tell others about it. What I mean is when someone shows full humility and passes their accolades on to someone else and while in that moment puts themselves so far below others that we are all amazed, touched and moved it becomes special. It is because the person’s behavior is an “opposite” reaction to what most other people will do. It’s amazing how many times throughout the day we have the opportunity to show humility. It starts with when we receive praise for the work we do. Since very little work is done by someone alone, are we taking that moment to show off someone else or show off ourselves? When it comes time to receive the award does it become ours or is it the teams? If we are looking for a role model we have to look no further than In Numbers 12:3 where we are told; “Now Moses was more humble than any other man on earth”. Just to read that right, “…than any other man on earth”. Yes, the Moses that we now hold up as such a great man and example can also be looked at as the man who must have done the “opposite” all the time as he was known to be a man of humility. This week what opportunities did you have to do the opposite and turn the glory and the spotlight over to others? What opportunities will you have today or next week? Remember, if we have the “opposite reaction” of what others expect from us, and we model humility like Moses, then our opposite reaction for what the world expects becomes then exactly what God expects.

Reference: Numbers 12:3 (New Living Testament)