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 25: Harmony

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Yesterday, we spent time on resolution of conflicts in the workplace. Let’s stay with that theme for another day and expand it to how we work with each other to get the the best from our ourselves and others. The best selling business book by Pat Lencioni; The Five Temptations of a CEO, describes one of the fatal temptations of a CEO being the quest to keep harmony in the workplace. While on the surface and in the context of his book, the point is a good one, I have also been in too many workplaces where what is really needed, is a big dose of harmony. You have seen it too where companies, teams, departments, or in groups where it is always a constant fight among individuals and constant politicking. So much so that the politics of the organization take over the culture and there is no harmony other than the harmony that everyone is political. This does not make for a fun or purposed workplace and it becomes nearly impossible for an individual to feel as she or he can rise to their full potential and purpose in that environment. In Romans, 12:16, Paul is clear though that we are to strive for harmony. He says bluntly, “Live in harmony with each other.”. It can be done, but it means that each of us have to dig deep into our souls and see if we are a part of the problem. If we are a part of the politics or the division of people and objectives, then we need to find a way to rise above the fray and become leaders of a different way. Each workplace has a definition of what harmony could be. That definition can be explored and uncovered by meeting and talking to those who are the best representations of harmony and alignment and staying on task or mission. And, usually, they are the people who everyone wants to work with or for. Can today, you seek out those people in your company and talk to them about how they have achieved this harmony in their team and then bring some of it back to your own team? Can you become an example and role model of how to bring harmony into the company and how to work with each other in a way that everyone can feel good about and be happy? I know you can!

The next two days we are going to take the same verse; Romans 12:16 and discuss how you can ensure that you are not the one who is creating disharmony.

Reference: Romans 12:16 (New Living Testament)