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 2748: “What A Nimrod”

purposed worKING No Comments

“But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court.”

We are living in an age where our decorum around calling people names has slipped.  We were taught that “sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never harm me.”  While it is true that names won’t hurt us physically directly, but being demeaned, embarrassed or spoken down towards can certainly hurt any one of us emotionally, leading then to physical issues. In our business environment we need to be cognizant of that what is happening in our culture just can’t be accepted in the workplace.  Companies are a reflection of the general population so we have bullies working with and for us too, but that doesn’t mean we need to accept or condone their behavior.  If you are working to build a better and more sustainable culture that works for everyone, consider removing the name calling.

I feel bad for the great Biblical warrior Nimrod.  Why?  Because his name has been misused and we can now hear someone use his name as a derogatory description. It’s just another reminder from God’s Word that we are not to be a people of name calling and that it is not a fruit that anyone will recognize as one that comes from the Holy Spirit.  It takes some discipline to not fall into the traps of others around us.  Let’s ask God to not let us fall for this.

Reference: Matthew 5:22 (New Living Translation)