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 2921: Seating Charts

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“But I have no right to say who will sit on my right or my left. God has prepared those places for the ones he has chosen.”

Yesterday, Salesforce announced that much of their workforce would now be able to work from home for multiple days a week and some employees never have to come back to the office.  This latest announcement of a company making this shift got me thinking about some of the unspoken things that happen in the workplace and how these new ways of working will take hold.  For example, seating charts.  Unless we work in the oldest and most traditional of companies, there isn’t any formal “seating chart” per se, but there is an informal seating chart for sure.  If you are a leader of a team or organization, have you every noticed how you tend to gravitate to the same seat in the room when meeting?  And, if you are not the leader, notice your boos and what she/he does?  And then notice next, who sits where in relation to the leader?  That is the informal seating chart.  So, what happens when there is a rotation of people in and out of the office for meetings?  I predict a new undercurrent of political struggle to occur.  And, that might be enough to draw people back to the office more than they, or the company, desires.  It will be interesting to watch and study who does what to sit where.

Even Jesus’ Disciples desired a seating chart.  John and James wanted to reserve their places next to Jesus for eternity.  They were asking for the ultimate seating assignment!  But, what did Jesus say?  He told them that this decision was not His, leaving all of us, if you will indulge me, eligible for being asked to sit closer in with Him.  Now, do any of us expect to be sitting at the right or the left hand of The Father?  Naw, probably not.  But, consider that we don’t know what God’s table of eternity looks like or how it will work and maybe, just maybe, we all will be able to sit together right at His side.  It’s a fun way of thinking and it’s also an encouragement for us to stay close to Him today.

Reference:  Mark 10:40 (New Living Translation)