I sat in the car eating leftover sushi in the alley behind The American rehearsing my notes a few minutes before his memorial. I lived on this street when I was studying under Russell in 2008/09. I'm not here often, and it felt alien to be rehearsing the words back at this place. I tried reading the words verbatim. I tried different intros to set it up. I tried to rehearse over and over (as I always do). It all felt terrible. I told myself I wasn't going to speak. I told myself if I don't have anything valuable to say, don't say anything at all.

The community that Russell created is perhaps his life's greatest work. The room was filled with just a small fraction of the people he impacted in his years as an instructor at SIAT. He was more than an instructor, he was a mentor and a friend. What was evident through the night of speeches was just how connected he was to so many people.

Part way through the talks, Armina gave me a little nudge. I met Armina because of Russell. I had sent her my notes about Russell after his passing. I was grieving and journaling and I sent them to a few folks to reconnect with my 'Russell friends.' The entry was about my first educational experience with him. Her nudge was enough to convince me to share.

In the first class I ever had with Russell he handed out a piece of paper. It may have even been a printed email. Black and white, cheap paper, ALL CAPS emphasis and bold text. It was kind of a mess, but it was full of passion. This thoughtful rant was a kind of a contract for what to expect in an educational relationship with him. It boiled down to 2 rules:

Give a shit. It's going to be hard so dig in. Care. Be passionate. Try hard and try to be better. Be authentic.

Don't make it personal. It's just work. Don't take things personally. If you want to be paid to be creative you need to get good at being vulnerable having that vulnerability critiqued.

I was for these rules. I still am. Rules to live by. And two of the first lessons I remember from Russell. Almost 20 years later my professional practice has been surrounded by people that signed the same contract. The people I'm connected to through Russ.

For many of us, there was a kind of pre-Russell period in our lives and a post-Russell period. After learning with Russell Taylor you would forever reference his lessons. I know I do, in my profession and in my life. After his death, I quickly starting jotting down some of the key lessons I learned from him. Some are my own interpretations, others have been shared with me over the years of working with many other 'Russell friends.' Anyway here is the list.

10 lessons I learned from Russell Taylor:

1. Give a shit.

2. Pursue greatness. Think in global scale or greater.

3. Enter a new space with intent. You only enter a space for the first time once.

4. Seek new culture.

5. Optimize for connections.

6. Embrace tolerance and tension as a part of your work.

7. Have a reverence for history.

8. Use all of your senses.

9. Make moments.

10. Don't make it personal. It's just work.

Send me a DM if you have some of your own that you want to share.

c.