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 2351: The Shake Ups

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“The Lord frustrates the plans of the nations and thwarts all their schemes. But the Lord’s plans stand firm forever; his intentions can never be shaken.”

Sometime in the next few weeks, if not next few days, we will read of a “shakeup”.  It might be a corporate Board that fires a CEO and/or members of the team.  It could be a political leader gets removed or changed out.  Possibly, a professional sports or university coach or coaching staff will be replaced.  Actually, if we open the papers or go online and look for shakeups, there is usually one daily waiting for us.  Shakeups come out as some kind of surprise or revelation, when in fact, if they are if managed correctly, they are a natural course of business.  Leaders and employees are not meant to stay in their jobs forever.  We don’t live forever and we age (unfortunately) diminishing our abilities, and another generation is behind, chomping at the bit to get their turn. The best changes and successions are those that are planned, well-communicated in advance, and by the time they happen just seem natural.  We don’t talk much about a natural change of slope and terrain that occurs over multiple lifespans…but we get really freaked out when the earth shakes to make a sudden correction in its position.  It is good practice to be thinking about whether or not your company and team really deserves to be shocked by a shakeup that is all in reality, within control.

God cannot be shaken.  When we are being shaken by the events around us, let’s be sure that we don’t misinterpret that God is not in it and right there with us.  We are vulnerable to all the decisions and events around us that we have little to no control over, but we do have our Lord who tells us that we should not fear when plans go awry or are changed on us.  We are to only stay steadfast and faithful to Him and trust that when the shaking stops, He will still be right there beside us.

  Reference:  Psalm 33: 10-11 (New Living Translation)