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 2437: Distance Management

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“I wish I were with you right now so I could change my tone. But at this distance I don’t know how else to help you.”

I am working with a start-up that is contemplating going to distributed working from day one. That means that no one would have an office and there wouldn’t be more than one person in any one location. Everything would be done virtually by video calls and phone calls. The economics, flexibility and attractiveness to future employees seem high, but as I advised the Founder, so are the risks. For one, communication is challenged by time zones and work patterns.  But maybe greatest of all is the challenge to an established culture that becomes created through the shared reality and experiences; the stories told.  Or lack thereof. You can’t just dismiss the idea without further research and learning. There are those who have succeeded at this, but it doesn’t come without great organizational and management maturity and discipline.

The Apostle Paul was struggling with distance management when he wrote his letters to the Galatians. If back then he was having to explain and define his tone so not to be misunderstood as too harsh or heavy-handed, then that hasn’t changed today with faster and less well-thought through communications like text, Slack, emails, etc. The same can be said in our lives as we struggle to stay close to the Lord. A few days out of His Word, or missing quiet time of prayer, or being away from the fellowship and disciplines of church can cause us to drift as well.  If we wonder why what we are hearing from God feels faint and more in the tone of “why aren’t you here”, then it could be that we have distanced ourselves too far and it is time to spend more time with Him in His office.

Reference: Galatians 4:20 (New Living Translation