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 493: Teamwork, Part Three, Back-To-Back

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I often write of the politics of the office and that while we should not engage in the politics, we need to be aware and cognizant of these happenings so that we are not blindsided or taken unaware. We have all experienced that moment when we are sitting at our desks wondering why someone who yesterday supported something that we were proposing or doing and then out of the blue, from left field, that person changes their position and we are left alone, now wondering what to do next. Pure and simple; politics have been played. That is why we hear so often, “I got your back on this one”. If there were no politics and no one was gunning for someones job, position or assignments, then there wouldn’t be any reason to have to cover someones back or watch out over them. But, that is human reality as it relates to work. So, without playing into the game, we can certainly secure ourselves and use teamwork to ensure that we are able to do our best without having someone else undermine our efforts. This is why we need to be good team members and learn to practice teamwork! Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes 4:12; “A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.” Just as we need to have someone standing at our backs, there is someone else, or more than one person, at our job who needs someone to stand at their back today. Think through who is standing alone today and go and offer to support them, and assist them in what they are doing. At the same time you are giving to them, they will be giving to you and before you know it, you will be back-to-back or as the verse says, “triple-braided”. To have one standing back-to-back to us, we have to do the same. Let’s be the first to offer. This is what it means to practice teamwork.

Reference: Ecclesiastes 4:12 (New Living Testament)