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 24: Resolution

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How easy it is at work to have fall outs with co-workers over the most minuscule of things. The work environment, while trying to be a place of common purpose, mission and unified efforts is fraught with opportunities to become disjointed, fractured and misaligned. It’s as if everyday there is a scattering force that takes over the minute we get to the office. I often think of it like when we were kids and would play with magnets and as hard as you tried you couldn’t get all the magnets to stick together in line because there was always the negative force of the other end pushing away other magnets. And so, we wake up in the morning thinking not only about what we can achieve for the day, but we also think about how are we to overcome the petty fight that is lingering, or the boardroom battle that is looming, or the argument with the person who sits next to us. It doesn’t make work as fun as it should be, does it? What are we as people of faith to do in these situations? Paul gives us a word in Philippians 2:1-2. He says that there is an encouragement we are to receive from belonging to Christ and that true happiness can be generated by finding a way to work together in agreement, a love for one another and working together with one mind and purpose. Paul wrote his letters to those who were doing ministry work in far-off places. But, his words are just as important for us who are seeking God’s purpose in our work and trying to lead a life of example. If we can find a way to be a beacon of unified spirit and harmony in the workplace, then we will become a center of where others come to resolve conflicts and not be the source of conflicts ourselves. A day going into the office with all the arguments and conflicts resolved is a day that will be productive and purposeful. If you have some unfinished business today at work, take the time today to wipe the slate clean and be the leader of that resolution. The rest of the day, and tomorrow, will be better for sure.

Reference: Philippians 2:1-2 (New Living Testament)