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 2362: The Welcoming Reception

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“I tell you the truth, anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me.”

We will say when someone moves into a new job or position that they get a “Honeymoon period” but, “It won’t last long”.  Sure, the honeymoon is a great metaphor for a time when we don’t have to think about anything else but the other person to whom we have just made a lifelong commitment and everyone else should be leaving us alone as we celebrate.  Well, that’s not really what we get within the first days or weeks of a new job.  What we get is learning period when it appears we get a pass from be evaluated, but in reality, everyone is watching and yes, everyone is evaluating.  The most celebrated moment is actually the time when we are hired, but haven’t started the job yet.  It’s more like the wedding reception time. This is when it’s nothing but positive, hopeful, energetic and joyful. This is the emotion that we want to carry over into the first period of someone’s entry into the company and the good news is that any hiring manager can be the one to set that tone.  Too often we welcome someone to the company or the team and then we walk away as if the party is over.  What if we changed that and kept the welcoming reception going for the first few weeks.  We might imagine that the acceptance of the new person and the tone by which they are learning and being brought onto to the team might be a lot better than what it has been before.

We can play a big and important role in the acceptance of others who are new.  We’ve all been there and know what it feels like to be the new face and not know anyone around us.  The stakes are high and everyone is on edge.  But, who do we remember most?  We remember the friendly face, the welcoming person who reaches out to us and offers to take us to lunch, to show us around, to introduce us to others, to give us the lay of the land.  You know who that person should be, right?  Yep, it’s the person who is going to work today to live out what they have been taught to be by their Lord.  Yep, that someone is to be us. We are to be the ones to keep the welcoming reception going!

Reference:  John 13:20 (New Living Translation)