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 3K126: Look No Further

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“A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among relatives and his own family.”

Even while we are worried about retention of our best employees, we can get so focused on the talent that is outside of our companies that we fail to recognize the talent that is already working with and around us. Typically, those who have the job of filling open positions are so focused on the external recruiting side of the equation that it becomes unbalanced and there is not as much focus on the internal talent and how they should be developed and promoted to take jobs in the future. Anyone who feels like they were ever passed over for a promotion while they watched someone else be hired from the outside into the role has experienced this first hand. Without a doubt there are many times when “new blood” and new thinking is required into an organization and the only way to get that is to hire from the outside. However, there is a balance and when organizations consistently fail to recognize the talent that is within then there will be a follow on pattern of attrition that can become unhealthy.

There is also an emotional impact on individuals when they are not seen or felt to have been developed and brought along. As with any of us, when we feel like our talents are unappreciated or taken for granted we can begin to believe there is something wrong with us and we can fall into our own pattern of not pushing to our full potential or performance. This is the worst outcome of all. It is human nature that we miss or ignore the talent within. Jesus said to his disciples; “A prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among relatives and his own family.” Are there people within your organization who with a little more recognition and sponsoring could be the talent that is being overlooked? Could you be the one who provides that extra spotlight and attention for them that allows them to grow and develop and be recognized as extraordinary talent already within the company? It’s a worthy question and exercise and one that will not only be of value to your organization but more importantly, to a person who’s life will be touched in a positive way and for us to be the one who provides that touch can be part of what we are supposed to do.

Reference: Mark 6:4 (New Living Translation)