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 3K303: What Others See

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“A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.”

This last week I was in a number of Board level meetings. Some were great. Some, not so great. The ratio is par for the course. But, in this week I was reminded on what can make a real difference between okay and great.  I distinctly remember a Board meeting from a few years ago where the the mood was markedly better and, as a consequence, the meeting more fun and more productive. As I think back on this meeting, the agenda of the meeting in comparison to others was similar, it had moments of a tough level of discussion and the topics more serious than other meetings, but it was just better and more fun. What made the difference was the attitude of one person in the room (and it wasn’t me as I am not that good). One member of the meeting bounces into the meeting with a look that is nothing short of happy. And that smiling attitude and cheery disposition permeated the room and picked up the mood for of all the rest of us. Even as we struggled through some real challenges and grappled with differing opinions, the mood did not change, nor did this one person’s look. Throughout the entire meeting a smile could be found and even with a little humor sprinkled throughout the conversation. There was not joking, just a lighter touch. I sure wish I could be more like this person.

As far as I know it’s not a faith that drives the cheerful attitude and disposition in the person who left a real impression on me and others, but still it is real.  Imagine the power and influence if there was a faith behind it when someone else were to say, “you are always so up and happy, why is that?”.  We can all have an up attitude and put on a happy face if our hearts are right. Solomon tells us how to do so, “ A glad heart makes a happy face; a broken heart crushes the spirit.” If there was ever anyone in the room to have a happy face, it should be us. With what we have in our hearts, why would we ever let anything but a happy face radiate out to others? What others sees from us matters and can leave a lasting impression.

Reference: Proverbs 15:13 (New Living Testament)