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 321: Guarantees

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A big part of work is looking for guarantees. We want guarantees from vendors and suppliers that the parts or service they are providing will be nothing short of stellar and perfect. We seek their guarantee and want them to stand by their workmanship. We look for guarantees from each other as co-workers. These are the guarantees that work will be done on time, complete and to the satisfaction of our internal customers and our ourselves. We look for guarantees from our bosses. When we work hard and we perform to our best ability, and to our bosses expectations, we want the guarantee that we will be recognized and rewarded for our efforts. In all of these cases we either sit with another person and express our desires and look for their personal guarantee and promise, or we will be even more explicit and try and get the guarantee in writing from the other party. Here is the flaw in our thinking; there are no guarantees that are 100% sure in the human life that we live. People, regardless of how pure, well-meaning or trustworthy, can and will always let us down at some point. The guarantees of this world are only as good as the piece of paper or the words spoken. But yet we still look for them and we need them as a part of our own assurances and confidence. What if we could remove that need from our life and trust forward that God will deliver what guarantees we seek? I think of Abraham in the Old Testament who God would continually ask to do bigger and bolder things and God would continue to tell Abraham; “I will bless you richly. I will multiply your descendants into countless millions, like the stars of the sky and the sand on the seashore.” The amazing part of that guarantee from God is that God would tell that to Abraham even before Abraham and Sarah were able to have children. Even more amazing is that Abraham, while he could not contemplate or fathom what God was promising, believed without doubt in God’s promise and guarantee. In my own faith I would like to have a lot less need for the guarantees of men and a whole bunch more of the faith of Abraham. As we march through our working days and we look for the guarantees from others, let us reflect on the difference of the unsecured guarantees of people and the firm and 100% guarantee of God.

Reference: Genesis 22:17 (New Living Testament)