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 27: Know It Alls

purposed worKING No Comments

The last two days have been about creating harmony at work and what our responsibility is in making that happen. One way we can create disharmony is when we get on the wrong side of others because we think we know better, or worse yet, because we think we “know it all”. Work is funny that way because most of the reward mechanisms are geared to always be ready to have an answer and if you don’t know it all then there must be a problem. It is a hard thing at work to say, “I don’t know”. But, as we all know a “know it all” person gets pretty hard to deal with over time. Before long, there is no debate to be had with them and the “know it all” turns into the “always right”. “Know it alls” also come across as having lots of ego and priding themselves over others. Romans 12:16 completes itself with Paul saying, “…And don’t think you know it all”. Paul understood that people who try and prove that know everything there is about anything and try to act intellectually superior will not be the people that others admire, look up to, or want to follow. This would not be a good way to be as an example of a follower of Jesus. If we are live in harmony as Paul has challenged us to do, then we need to check our egos and smarts at the door and recognize that others may have the answer too and that if we listen to them we will learn things we don’t already truly know. Today, there will likely be a circumstance where you can either listen and let others express their position and thoughts or you can butt in and be the “know it all”. When that challenge comes, see if you can hold back and then see if things don’t feel more harmonious around you. You just might be surprised how it feels different.

Reference: Romans 12:16 (New Living Testament)