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 2827: Behind The Words

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“Now I, Paul, appeal to you with the gentleness and kindness of Christ—though I realize you think I am timid in person and bold only when I write from far away.”

We know the people who are all big, strong, bold and sometimes even arrogant when they are on email, text or social media, but when they are confronted face to face they back down quickly.  What is that?  It’s like there is an inner voice in us that takes over when it’s a screen we are writing to like there isn’t even a a person on the other end.  I see it so often that it’s not just a one off with people, it’s a real thing.  And, with the opportunities to “flame” with so many others doing the same now, the norms continue to erode and it is growing.  There is no perfect answer but one, we should never be that person and two, we can be helpful by going direct to remove the shield of the screen.

Imagine that Paul was thought of as being bold in his letters and less so in person? Maybe, he was but, Paul was not the person I reference above.  He was bold in his teaching and direction without crossing the line to being aggressive, disrespectful or demeaning. And more so, while maybe more timid in person, he stayed the same person in his beliefs and actions at all times. Net, he didn’t write one thing and then be another. And, that should be our goal as well…to be the same person at all times, always striving to bring glory to God in all that we do.

Reference: 2 Corinthians 10:1 (New Living Translation)