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 2543: Two Or More

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“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.”

I get the great opportunity to work with many entrepreneurs as they conceptualize and start their business ventures.  I have come to believe that trying to start a business on one’s own is not a wise thing to do.  A founder needs a co-founder who can be their partner in going through all of the challenges they face.  The degree of difficulty is just too high to be alone.  There are organizational psychology studies to back up that the numbers we have in organizations matter.  Dunbar’s number of 150 people being the number that an organization takes on a higher need for levels of supervision can be experienced almost to the number.  There are also studies that show that different communication tactics are needed when two people go to three, then four and beyond.  Have you ever noticed even in a casual conversation or dinner that four people can go through a whole dinner and the conversation was only with the two pairs, only occasionally that all four interacted together.  So, one is not enough, four might be too many.  So, two or three to start, might be the sweet spots.  It’s worth thinking about next time a team or project is created.

We are taught that where two are more are gathered in the Lord’s name that He will join us there, because He is there with us.  We are even taught that three are even better for us to stand strong together.  We should consider this as we attempt to be strong and courageous with our faith in our workplaces.  Are there others who a bond of faith can be created?  There will be times when that standing back-to-back with another believer will make the difference in being able to move forward.  And there will be other times when being triple-braided may be the only thing that keeps it all together for us.  So, today, can we find that other person or two with whom we can walk towards God together?

Reference: Ecclesiastes 4:12 (New Living Translation)