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 2506: The Right Moment?

“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”

You couldn’t have read a Business Section of news last week without seeing a story on Elon Musk and his troubles and challenges at Tesla and with himself personally.  Being a CEO is hard.  Being a founding CEO is harder.  Being a founding CEO of a public company even harder.  Knowing to which point the business has outgrown you, or it is just time for change, is the hardest job a CEO has.  Even at retirement, we question ourselves.  Goldman Sachs CEO, Lloyd Blankenfein wrote this last month in a letter to his team: “When times are tougher you can’t leave. And, when times are better, you don’t want to leave.”  This is why it is important, at all levels of leadership, to have around us those who we trust to tell us the truth. If it is time to leave, it is time to leave.  It takes a major checking of the ego at the door to listen, but listen we must.

Jesus asked if the cup could be taken from Him!  If He asked, then it’s okay and the right model for us to always being asking of God what it is that He wants us to do with our lives and talents.  I am convinced that we can bring glory to God in all that we do and that He equips us daily to reenlist for Him in our workplaces. I send my encouragement to you today and I also ask that each of us pray for someone else we know who may be struggling with living out their faith in their work that they may feel emboldened and rejuvenated in their faith journey to know that today is a right moment for them.

Reference: Luke 22:42 (New Living Translation)