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 234: View From The Top

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I once was asked to speak at a business conference called, “View From The Top”. As I prepared for the session, I felt an enormous amount of pressure being that everyone who was sitting in the audience was expecting something unique and insightful because I was supposed to have some view that was different than everyone else. The view from the top is supposed to be the best view with a vantage point that no one else could have. It’s an interesting metaphor but I don’t think it holds up totally in business. Just because someone sits in the CEO seat doesn’t mean that she/he actually has the best view or point of view. Many times the CEO can get so far away from the customer that they lose all of that perspective. The same can happen with perspective on other parts of the business. They may well know the strategy of the company better than anyone else, but that doesn’t mean they have the whole view. It takes, in business, many people with many vantage points and views to put the whole picture together, each having their own view. It’s kind of like the eyes of a fly…many, many, many views. Too many companies act like only the views from the top matter, but they are wrong. Each of us bring our own unique vantage point and point of view to the business and if we stand tall with our own point of views, then others will listen and take note. God tells us what the vantage point He wants us to have; “Joyful are those who listen to me, watching for me daily at my gates.” If our view is always fixed towards watching for the gates of God then our view will never be the wrong one. What we see beyond that view is all additive. At work we all want to see the biggest picture that we can because we believe that the bigger and better the view the more influence we will have in the business. If today you are worried that you don’t have a view from the top or not a big enough view, then step back and be glad that God has given you a better view; a view of the top! And when it feels like you can’t see what you need to see, then fall back on God and ask Him to open your eyes to what it is that you need to see and to give you a point of view that influences others around you.

Reference: Proverbs 8:34 (New Living Testament)