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 237: Walking Away

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Thankfully not every day on the job are we faced with situations where our values and principles are so challenged that we must make a binary decision to either capitulate or stand firm and just walk away. Because they can be few and far between, our defenses and muscles to walk away might not be as sharp and toned as they need to be. So these moments become ones that feel like they have “sneaked up” on us, or come from left-field. But, these times do come and when they do, are we really ready? I wish I could say that in my career I have a perfect record in these moments, but I can’t. None of us do. However, the more we keep ourselves ready and on the watch for these, the better we will be able to handle the situation and the more conviction we can muster to make the right decision. I remember a moment where in the early days of a new job, after a long day of meetings on the road, the other senior executives I was with were going to go off into the night to a number of places that I felt like would not only compromise my own values, but also send a message to the other junior people around us, male and female, that this activity was condoned and potentially being encouraged. As I climbed into the cab to go home (along with a number of other people) the other cab with the other senior executives went the other way. At that moment, I didn’t need to say anything or do anything but just walk away and not go out to make the point and take the stand. Sure, there was a few minutes of ribbing, but it was just a moment of saying, “I’m hitting the hay and heading back” and the stand was made. I could say that in that moment, I was full of prayer and spiritual strength, but that would not be true. In that moment, I was just making the choice of what is right and wrong and having the conviction to walk away. Like I said before, no one is perfect all the time, so each of miss these moments and later kick ourselves for not walking away. And they are not always big moments. They can be the moment to tell the truth versus stretch or shade the truth. It could be the moment of giving the actual number versus rounding it up or down. It may be holding those words in your mouth that so desperately want to spew out in a moment of anger. Whatever it is, there are moments that we are called upon to walk away. What I have learned over the years is that God is with us in those moments whether we recognize Him or not. The story of Gideon who was so beaten down as he watched everything collapse around him until he gave up the fight hits home. But at one of Gideon’s lowest moments, God said to him; “Go with the strength you have…” What an encouraging verse for us today. God is telling us that we don’t need to worry about having super powers and super convictions to do the right thing and to just walk away when that is what is demanded. He says just, “Go with the strength you have”. Implied is that He will take care of the rest if we allow Him to do so. Today, know that the strength you have is enough to make it through this day. Keep building that strength through your Bible study, prayer and fellowship with others and know that when you find yourself in the situation where you need to walk away, that God has given you all the the strength you need to do so.

Reference: Judges 6:14 (New Living Testament)