By John Sumser
“The snickering begins when they ask to be your business partner. With little business acumen and even less understanding, they demand a seat at the table when anyone knows that what you want is a seat in the golf cart.”
So says Rusty Rueff as he ponders the future of HR. “We’re looking at an era where work becomes molecular. Project teams band together for the project and reconfigure for the next. Transparent workplaces where people come to dock and never to stay are the coming thing.”
Rueff’s career in HR was a skyrocket. From management trainee at Pratt-Whitney to Pepsico to Electronic Arts to Venture Backed startup as a CEO, Rueff’s career is a model that people point to. He worked all of the HR functions, published a book on talent management saw each phase of the corporate lifecycle and ran and sold a venture backed firm.
Rusty’s core developmental experience came in his decade at Pepsi. There are several academy companies in HR, the ones whose alumni run an enormous percentage of the other HR departments. Pepsi is one of the prime sources of HR Executives throughout America.
Some forms of influence come from the networks that you form over the years. The Pepsi alumni are a fraternity whose reach extends into boardrooms and training programs. Rusty’s colleagues throughout the course of his career are central to the level of influence he wields.
In action, Rusty’s HR department was a competitive weapon, recruiting as an offensive strategy, managing perks and compensation to retain the core assets of the business, offering strong counsel on non-HR business issues. The combination of a deep network of like-minded execs plus innovative performance gave Rusty a platform for influence.
In the career model of influence, that’s how you do. Stage 1, you learn the craft in rich detail. In Stage 2, you learn the politics of executing the craft appropriately. The third stage involves demonstrating these skills on problems outside the craft. This is important, you don’t get permission to be a business partner, you earn the privilege.
Stage four is where the network comes in. By having a peer group to turn to for new tactics and techniques, you ensure your ability to continue to innovate in your role, ever increasing the benefit to the organization. Stage four is where you build the platform for influence. The fifth and final stage involves using and increasing the influence you’ve developed.
Rusty Rueff is a fifth stage influencer. When he left HR, he took a two and a half year tour as the CEO of a VC backed SnoCap, a digital rights management company. By navigating the company to a sale, Rueff completed his tour of the business lifecycle, buying him even more credibility. Credibility, you see, is the substrate of influence. No credibility, no influence. Lots of it and influence is possible.
Today, Rueff plies his trade as a philanthropist, board member and consultant. Early on, he had a mentor who encouraged him to do the things he loved by reading him Ayn Rand. It looks like Rusty followed his advice.
