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 2565: True To Your Word

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“And you have done what you promised, for you are always true to your word.”

How much of the consternation in the workplace just comes from someone not being true to their word?  I’m not writing of complex lies and premeditated deceit (although those are big problems),  I’m asking us to look at the small things that can cause big problems. Someone promises to return a phone call and doesn’t.  Another says they will finish the report by tomorrow and it slips to a day too late.  We tell someone we read what was given to us, but we really haven’t.  We make up a story on why we were late.  We blur the facts to make them work in our favor. We deny we said something, when we and everyone else knows we did say what we are saying later we didn’t.  These are real problems that kill credibility and can destroy relationships, initiatives and progress.  We only have one choice.  Tell the truth ourselves consistently and call out those who don’t tell the truth.  Give them a chance to explain and change. But, if it happens again, there is no place for them in the company IF you are committed to a culture that is good.

God is always true to His Word.  Always has been.  Always will be.  Maybe one of the easiest things we can do as a believer trying to follow Him and show an example of our Lord, is to be true to our word.  If we are true to our word and we don’t accept into our circle of approval those who are not true to their word, we are best positioned to have others accept the rest of our values and principles as good and worthy of understanding where they come from in us. But, when we aren’t true to our word and/or defend or try to explain or rationalize others who are not true to their word, then we put ourselves back in the place of all others and our testimony is effectively diluted to nothing.  Some are still working on what they can do to be different, and better this year for our Lord.  Consider the impact of being consistently true to your word this year as a resolution that matters.

Reference: Nehemiah 9:8 (New Living Translation)