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 227: Follow The Instructions

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My father used to say me, “When all else fails, follow the instructions”. That has stuck with me over the years, especially when I am in the midst of a project that is hard and complicated. Somewhere, there are instructions that can be followed, if we just think back hard enough to remember what and where they are. Even at work we are given instructions all the time on what to do, but I have found that many people tune out during the instructional moments and then the work comes back either not totally completed as requested, or in more cases than not, overdone in some way with work that was not necessary or actually valuable. And while, as a manager, you thank the person for the extra work, what you really want to say, is “had you listened and written down what we talked about then you wouldn’t have had to do these extras that I can’t use anyway”. The other thing that happens is that a manager will assign a task and not give clear directions, or any instruction at all, and since we want to be great employees showing initiative, run off into the dark and get to work without really knowing what is being asked from us. So, we guess, and then we bring back the work and guess what? Not surprisingly, it’s not exactly what was needed so we have to rework what we have done. We don’t feel good about that and our managers don’t feel good about it either. All that needed to happen was before we left the room the first time the task was assigned was ask some simple questions like, “what will this be used for”, “who will be using this”, “how specific or general do you want this?”, “when is this due?”, etc. You get the gist. It is about receiving and following instructions to make our work easier and make us more productive. Being good at following instructions and directions is Biblical. In Proverbs 16:20 we are told: “Those who listen to instruction will prosper”. There you have it. Being open and willing to receive and listen to instruction is a path to take when in doubt. The verse also goes on to say that “those who trust the Lord will be joyful.” The greatest instruction manual of all time is in front of us with the gift we have of God’s word. We should never be in doubt with directions that God has given us. So, when you are on the job and there are not any instructions or directions to follow and you are in doubt, fall back on God’s directions and listen and receive them as He provides them to you. We all tend to think that God wants us only to go to Him for the biggest of problems. Don’t forget that He knows that your work and job is “very big” to you and that He wants you to bring Him your work issues just like all other issues in your life. He wants to give you all the instruction that you will ever need. Then it is up to us to listen and receive. Start today practicing taking in instruction from God and from others and see if things don’t start getting better!

Reference: Proverbs 16:20 (New Living Testament)