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 256: Chameleons

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I have always been fascinated about how chameleon like people can be at work. It is most recognizable in how people pick up the cues from the leaders in the organization and before long everyone is following in their habits and mannerisms. Think about it for a second, what are the words and mannerisms of your company that lots of people have picked up and imitate? It may not be obvious to you at first but if you spend enough time watching and listening you will see them. And where do you think they come from? They come from the leadership of the organization. As goes the leader, so goes the rest. I was in a meeting the other day with a person who is now the CEO of his own company, who I hadn’t seen in a about six months. As I sat and listened to him talk I could see the mannerisms and the exact words of his former boss being used and coming through. In some ways it was eerie. It got me thinking about my own habits, words, idiosyncrasies and mannerisms and I could see how they were reflected and picked up on by the people in my company. It happens all the time and many times we don’t even know it. And part of how we feel we succeed in business is in how well we adapt ourselves to the company so that we “fit in”. There is nothing wrong with fitting in as long as we know the line where we have not given up ourselves and who we are. It’s okay to take on the language and the mannerisms of a company but not if they cross over and contradict with the values and principles that we know to be true and right. If we get lost or confused on what those values and principles should be, there is no better place to return than to what God’s Word says to us. Paul tells us exactly the imitation we are supposed to take on in Ephesian 5:1; “Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.” There is the true role model for each of us. If we can start with being a chameleon for God then we are less likely to adapt and change our colors for other human beings, regardless if they are the boss or not. Today, listen and watch yourself, and others and see what mannerisms, words, idiosyncrasies you have taken on at work and then make sure that they are not in conflict with the model that God has given you. If they are in conflict, then you know what colors need to be changed…starting today.

Reference: Ephesians 5:1 (New Living Testament)