RYAN GUFFEY
ABOUT
Ryan Guffey’s career path led him to work with a variety of organizations, from small family-owned businesses to multi-billion dollar publicly traded corporations, holding positions from rank-and-file employee to General Manager to President and CEO. He co-founded a non-profit organization and served on the Board of Directors. He was also a founding member and two-term President of a business referral networking group. Boring and unimpressive.
However, while observing people within these varied organizations, Guffey saw patterns in the philosophies espoused and traits exhibited by those in charge, which added at least a modicum of intrigue. To Guffey, it seemed as if a certain set of characteristics make people more apt to succeed, and this perception would later influence his writing.
Ryan’s interest in writing began in elementary school where he may have pioneered the fake news industry by creating and distributing a weekly newsletter. The publication featured made-up news articles, silly ads, and even a three-panel comic strip. In high school, Ryan and some friends created a fictitious corporation known as Crock, Inc. of which his alter ego, Dr. Guff Meister, served as President and CEO. The job entailed setting ridiculous policies for the pretend company, distributing fake but entertaining corporate memos, and recruiting the alter egos of others to take part in the shenanigans. Years later, as his ho-hum career trajectory unfolded, Ryan would revive the Meister persona in an entertaining Crock, Inc. corporate newsletter, distributed via email to subscribers. This newsletter morphed into a blog and eventually spawned Ryan’s debut business fiction novel, The Stool: Building a Platform for Business Success Beyond Your Imagination.
Guffey dabbled with other types of writing too. He reviewed records for the now defunct Lost at Sea e-zine but never took pleasure in critiquing the creative works of others. He penned lyrics for a rock band and, to this day he remains in disbelief that stardom never came. He experimented with poetry and short stories. He began writing, but later shelved, a handful of novels in various commercial fiction genres, never really finding his groove.
Over the years, while gaining experience in the corporate world, Guffey began to sense that his own personality did not meet the prerequisites he perceived as necessary for success in business. So, once again he called upon his alter ego, Dr. Guff Meister, to stand in for him when needed. The more Meister was involved, the more success came. Ryan believed he had discovered a new way to be successful, using an imaginary stand-in. This prompted him to share Dr. Guff with the world in a unique blend of humor and imagination that embodies his writing.
