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 180: Tripped Up?

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I was recently on the phone with a friend who is a CEO of a start-up company. He was looking for advice on how to handle a number of situations with his Board, his management team and some contractual issues that keep rearing their head and causing problems. As I listened to him what I heard over and over was that he keeps getting “tripped up” as he tries to manage and maneuver through the day to day things he faces. He got me thinking about how much of our energy is spent at work trying to keep from getting tripped-up by something that we can’t foresee. Instead of going forward at full-steam, we instead spend time and energy but ensuring that we are “okay”; so we hedge and walk softly around people and conversations so that we don’t get tripped up or taken off of course or task. Because, if we do get tripped up we know that we will spend way more time than we want trying to resolve the new problem. This approach can make us feel not as confident or bold in our work and certainly can add much stress and consternation to our jobs. God gives many promises within His word to help us keep the confidence that we need to be the best we can and bring glory to Him. A favorite of mine is in Psalm 91:11-12; “For he orders his angels to protect you wherever you go. They will hold you with their hands to keep you from striking your foot on a stone. ” Yes, God will keep us from “tripping up”. He has sent his angels to watch over us to be sure that we are secure and safe in our lives. And yes, this security also spreads over the part of our lives we call work. Today, as you go about the hours that you spend at your job, go forth with confidence that if you have called on Him to be with you in your job (as much as any other part of your life) that He is not only there with you, but also he has sent His angels to watch over you and protect you from harm. Work boldly and confidently knowing that you have support in your purpose and don’t spend your hours and energy worrying about being tripped up by others who try and get in your way or distract you away from your purpose.

Reference: Psalm 91:11-12 (New Living Testament)