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 3K308: Triple-Braided Cord

“A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.”

You already know that I am big Seth Godin fan.  I haven’t pulled in any of his writings recently, but this caught my attention a few weeks ago.  Seth wrote on what he sees as the “braid” of life.  He said these are the three strands of the braid:

  • Power (sometimes seen as status, or the appearance of status)
  • Safety (survival and peace of mind)
  • Meaning (hope and the path forward)

He goes on to write that it is when these three strands are out of balance that we unravel and lose the strength of the braid.  We can see this phenomena playing out in our workplaces organizationally and in people.  Right now, as we experience the return of layoffs and employees feel left with less choice, power and peace of mind as it relates to the security of their jobs, smart employers will be tripling down on providing people meaning, purpose and hope in their work.  The strands, when equal, are strong. When one or more falters we need to recognize that and do what we can with what we have left.

The power of triple-braided cord is Biblical.  I am fortunate that I have two friends and brothers in Christ who meet with me regularly (coming up on for decades soon) once a week to share, discuss, debate and pray.  We are braided in our love and identities in Christ. I know that I am stronger in my faith and life because of them.  If you don’t have two others in your life, I can tell you that you should and it will make a difference.

Reference: Ecclesiastes 4:12 (New Living Translation)