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 456: Where Is The Love?

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Ever notice that at work there is not really a constant flow or outpouring of gratitude, recognition, congratulations, or encouragement? Work is a series of ups and downs and highs and lows. One day we are on top of the world because everything is going great and the boss loves what we are doing and we can feel the love being sent our way. And then there is the next day where nothing goes right and the boss is a little aloof or the positive reinforcement feels like it has drifted and we find ourselves questioning where we stand or what she/he thinks of us now. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions and we can find ourselves saying to ourselves, “Where is the love?” I’m not sure that any boss is so good that they can be consistently sending the love out so that each and every person on their team is receiving it at the right time and in just the right way. So what we do is we try and find trend lines and we manage and skate on that trend line and we do so with our emotions and feelings of value fluctuating. If we are bosses of others, then we should try and change that with our people and be sure that we are doing better to straighten out the line and provide consistency. If we are on the receiving end of the feedback then we need to be sure that we are not putting too much of our personal self-esteem and self-worth on the feedback and comments of our boss or our peers. We have to be sure that we don’t need the high of the rollercoaster ride to fulfill us. There is only one place where we can find consistent and truly unconditional love and that is within our relationship with Christ. Paul tells us that nothing can separate the love that He sends to us each and every day. It does not matter what our performance may be as God doesn’t grade on a curve and He doesn’t compare us to others. See Romans 8:38-39; “I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord”. Today, do a little internal checking or yourself and see if the need for the affirmation and recognition of the boss and others at work has become too important. If so, it is time to pull back and realize that you are asking, “Where is the love”, from a place that will always let you down at some point. Rather, focus back on where the love can never be separated, disrupted or removed. That is the love we all really need.

Reference: Romans 8:38-39