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 440: Shielding

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When you sit in the CEO role or a senior executive position you get “shielded” from many things. I used to get upset with CEOS, Executives and Politicians who were caught unaware of things happening within their organizations and then when asked would say something to the effect of, “I am shielded from those kinds of things?” It’s not until you sit in one of those chairs that you learn that there is so much that happens within a company that it is impossible for one person to know it all. That is why we surround ourselves with great people and ask them to take on important segments of the business so that if we are the leader, we sleep well at night knowing that we don’t have to know it all. Inevitably, every leader gets bitten somewhere along the way by something that others would think, on the surface, was a detail that the leader should have understood, grasped and managed, but in this one instance someone dropped the ball and the outcome is embarrassing or worse yet looks like the leader wasn’t properly informed and managing. Seldom does someone step forward in that situation and say, “we shielded all of this from the boss”. Instead it is the boss left trying to explain to people why he/she wasn’t all over the details and managing better. Any of us who have led at this level know what it is like. It is like drinking out of a water hydrant every day and trying to know when and where to go deep and where and when to stay above the details so that others can lead and manage without too much interference. What I can say is that if you have surrounded yourself with the right people who share your values and principles and continue to act in a way that is representative of those values and the highest integrity then things should be okay, even when there is a stumble. And, there should never be a reason that someone feels like they have to shield something away from the leader. Only God should shield any of us, but in the other definition of giving us a shield for our own safety and protection. In Proverbs 2:7 He makes a promise; “He is a shield to those who walk with integrity”. If you are feeling today like you are caught in that awkward spot between being shielded away and having the real shield of God over you, then taking a look at how much integrity you have might be the answer to coming out of the catch. Walking with integrity is like having God walk in front of us carrying the shield that keeps the evils away. If we can learn to live and work with the highest of integrity then God will deliver on His promise and put His shield over us. That shield is the shield that keeps us protected and secure in Him. Ask God to shield you today, and then today try that shield on for size.

Reference: Proverbs 2:7 (New Living Testament)