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 284: Early Days

We each can remember our first day on a new job and what it feels like. We wake up early on that first morning with some butterflies in our stomach, not quite sure what to expect knowing that we are going to meet lots of new faces, hear lots of names that we will have a hard time remembering, and be assigned a workspace where everything will feel new and different. We spend the first part of our time of that day rearranging our workspace to make it more comfortable to how we work and what we expect and then meandering around to meet those who sit around us, etc. Even with all of the nervousness and anxiety, there is hope, a positive attitude and a high level of optimism that anything can be achieved. The early days are exciting days. If only we could harness the energy of the first day and bottle it up and hold onto it. In these early days we don’t let others round us down or hold us back because we are young or new into the job. The best of the best find a way to not let the naysayers get in the way and the best know how to bring others along with them without alienating them or making other feel like they are stepping on their toes, etc. What is most important is that each of us when we are put in these new roles that we are positive and enthusiastic and we not let that enthusiasm wane. Timothy sends the same message to new believers in 1 Timothy 4:12: “”Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity.” Because we are new in our jobs, young in our careers or young in our faith does not mean that we cannot be good examples and strong role models. Many times it is the first days that we establish out long term reputations with others. It is so important that we are diligent on how we act, what we say, and how we behave any time and especially, in the early days.

Reference: 1 Timothy 4:12 (New Living Testament)