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 70: Troublemakers

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Some people just love to stir the pot and cause trouble. When they cause trouble they get some satisfaction out of being the one that got everyone up in arms and excited, disturbed, and anxious. Sometimes the motives can seem malicious but I think that at work, more often than not, it is more about getting attention and creating a fracas that they might end up being the person to fix it or save the day. And, it’s not always big things. It can be the smallest of words whispered as gossip or a rumor that sets the building on fire. Any of us can end up being on the receiving end of the news and of course, that ruins anyones day. I once worked with someone who was like this. I don’t think he was mean-spirited, but at the end of the day, he caused lots and lots of trouble and over time he was found out and people became very careful and leery of him. Before too long he had to have felt very alone. That is no way to live or work. The wise and challenged man, Job, gave us words for troublemakers. He says in Job 4:8: “My experience shows that those who plant trouble and cultivate evil will harvest the same.” This is not to be wished upon anyone, but it is a fair warning that if we find ourselves being one who starts to stir the pot, pass a rumor, get in the midst of gossip, create trouble for the sake of creating trouble or just participating in the trouble, that we can expect not such good things in return. My experience has shown me that these are things that creep up on us. We may not in any way think that we are creating trouble, but by just not thinking before we act or allowing someone else we associate with to get a little further out there than they should, that we all of a sudden are swept into something that we wished we had stayed far from. So, we are to be cautious and cognizant of our actions and we are to be vigilant to keep out of trouble’s way. And, of course, no one likes a troublemaker.

Reference: Job 4:8 (NLT)