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 3K287: Taking Out The Garbage

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“And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Think about things that are pure, lovely and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.”

“Garbage in…garbage out” applies to many things. In computer science, it refers to bad code that is written means bad results that come out. Within our work lives the phrase is very relevant in that each and every day we all go to work and when we hit the door in the morning, where our minds “are” will be how we approach the day and how others approach us. If we have filled our mind with “garbage” then we can expect that what comes out of us will be recycled right back into our mood and demeanor. Now, you are probably thinking, “what is he talking about, I don’t get up every morning and fill my mind with garbage or filth”. I doubt you do. I am not referring to garbage in the most defined way. I am thinking of it as filling our minds with thoughts that are less than positive, less than encouraging, less than true or honorable. I am writing of those thoughts that are on the edge of mean-spirited or maybe those that have a little vindication at the core. These are the thoughts we have in the morning about “setting someone straight today” or ensuring that “they get theirs”. Nothing malicious or harmful, but just enough on the edge that they shape our approach to the day in a negative versus positive fashion. Whether we like it or not, it’s garbage in that produces garbage out.

In Philippians 4:8 we can hear with what we are supposed to replace the bad stuff: See the difference in that list of things in our mind? It would be hard to argue that if our minds were full of those things that our mood, our demeanor, our approach and our attitude could be anything but good. That would be good for us and good for others who interact with us daily. So today, do an inventory of the thoughts that are in your head and see how much needs to be discarded and replaced with new thoughts. Taking out the garbage could be a great cleaning exercise today.

Reference: Philippians 4:8 (New Living Translation)