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 359: A Bargain

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As I wrote a few days ago, after hearing a devotional delivered by a pastor, it got me thinking about what it is that we as workers expect from our employers and then how does that relate to how we expect and treat God. The context of this comes from Matthew Chapter 20 where the day workers made a contract with the owner of an estate to pay them their daily wage for the work they were going to do from 6AM until 6PM. The owner ends up paying the same amount to the workers who had made an agreement for what they would be paid for the day, which was the standard daily wage, as he does the person who just came on and worked for him for one hour, which would be an enormous amount of money for one hour’s work. The men who had worked all day were upset and didn’t understand how someone could get paid the same as them for such a little amount of time, so in their minds they were owed more. But, the message in this parable is that the all-day workers got exactly for what they bargained and agreed it was all of the other workers who didn’t haggle and feel the need to bargain, but who were just pleased to be able to work who got so much more. It’s an interesting parallel to employees who are on contract, whether it be on a union’s collective bargaining agreement or an athlete or celebrity. They get paid for what they bargained and others may get a lot more, and then the employee on contract somehow feels like they got robbed. However, again, they got what they bargained for and it was not only fair but contractual. How often do we find ourselves in a bargaining position and we get exactly what we bargained for and no more? I have to challenge myself on this subject as well as I too many times take to God and others what I know is best for me. Who else can know better than me after all? Today as you contemplate the areas of your life where you know best and you find yourself demanding and bargaining on others and/or God, then I would offer that it is time to sit back and let God do His thing and trust that what looks like a bargain may be, like the worker that got a full day’s pay for one of hour of work, a much better deal to be had without the bargain.

Reference: Matthew 20:2 (New Living Testament)