What The Why part of WTW Rewind Series with Barbara Anne. Season 3 Episode #4 with Richard Blank.
This episode of “What The Why?!? originally aired on the RVN Television Network which is now KnetStream. While these shows are currently available on KnetStream, we are happy to share these edited versions of meaningful conversations for additional reflection and impact.
"What The Why?!?" hosted by Barbara Anne Gardenhire-Mills. It's a show where she interviews various leaders about their "why" – their purpose and what drives them.
In our fourth season, our show features conversations with a wide variety of leaders from all walks of life about why they do what they do and how they figured things out.
The first three seasons of the show, known as "What The Why?!? with Barbara Anne," are also available on select platforms and KnetStream.com."
https://youtu.be/20zcT3hxwQA
https://youtu.be/lo6D9XlVlhc
https://youtu.be/89EQxbg-2tU
https://youtu.be/mJ6w_29aBYM
https://youtu.be/96aWnZhTALc
https://youtu.be/sCt_28qjrTg?si=gERP_m8RCZvhjndj
What The Why, Barbara Anne, Richard Blank,Costa Rica's Call Center, Outsourcing, Telemarketing, BPO, Nearshore, Sales, Entrepreneur, B2B, Business,Podcast,Gamification,Leadership,Marketing, Radio, Guest, Money, education, trainer,
Barbara Anne:
I help people feel seen, heard, valued, and validated. As a Solutions Navigator and servant leader, I use coaching, training, and customized consulting services to help people navigate challenges and opportunities to BEcome their vision of extraordinary for themselves, their teams, and their companies.
I have directly assisted over 2,140 leaders, businesses, and companies of all sizes in all stages of growth and provided training and technical assistance to thousands more companies, teams, entrepreneurs, and individuals in government, nonprofit, and corporate roles. Leaders I work with identify opportunities, challenge mindsets, implement action plans, achieve goals, attract, hire, and retain talented employees, and ultimately thrive and scale.
I am an executive, leadership, POSITIVE INTELLIGENCE® (PQ) mental fitness, and International Coaching Federation Professional Certified Coach (ICF PCC), business consultant, and community and economic development expert. I have three decades of leadership experience in government, nonprofit, and corporate roles in business development, community relations and communications, capital access, coaching and training, change management, organizational development, team optimization, and creating company cultures that lead with civility and treating everyone as the unique human BEings they are.
I use my unique skills, empathy, flexibility, enthusiasm, creativity, and a sense of humor to achieve visions on my own or with a team. I've overcome challenges no person should ever encounter and use those "gifts" and lessons learned to help others. Ways I can add value to you include:
Executive, Leadership, PQ Mental Fitness Coach. ICF PCC and Forbes Coaches Council member
Relationship & Business Development
Leadership, Office Culture & CIED Training & Coaching Organizational Development, Team Optimization & Performance Management
Media, Government & Community Relations
Leadership, Performance, Product & Technical Training, including Instructional Design (ATD)
Grant Management, Grant Writing, Fundraising, Resource Development & Non-Dilutive Funding
Full-Cycle Lending (including CRA, HMDA, and other compliance)
Program Development, Implementation, Marketing & Analysis
Project Management
Property & Casualty Insurance
Corporate Social Responsibility/TBL/Sustainability
Mount Laurel, New Jersey,
Grab Life and See Where It Takes You
Barbara, I needed to leave a castle, to slay a dragon, save a princess, and be a prince. I needed to drink life. I didn't know how I was gonna do it. And when this one in a million opportunity came up, that almost answers your question, my friend. I just grabbed it, held on, and saw where it was gonna take me. And that's the beauty of life. And you can live it like that. And you see where your vision quest and your destiny takes you. And it brought you right here to the What the Why television show on rvntelevision.com, which is awesome.
How Fun Powers a Successful Call Center
Of course. I tell you what, really the difference is proxemics. It's just spacing. All call centers have internet redundancy. They have IT support, computers, the desks. But what is the difference? Didn't you have more fun at one club than another? One friend's house had better junk food and cooler parents. labor pools, the same computers, the same salaries. So to answer your question, you see behind me I have a jukebox and a candy machine. I love recess. I love dessert. an air hockey table and so i encourage agents to meet each other from different departments to let off steam to have some fun smoke one less cigarette get off your phone for five minutes go go play and by doing so i've been able to anchor and bond i mean that's one of the things that i do I compete against Amazon, so Jeff Bezos has thousands of agents here, and he's done a great job, but it would almost be impossible for him to know everybody. Me, since I'm only 150, very selective of the agents that come in, it's very easy for me to know everyone, even those that work from home. And so by creating that sort of environment where people aren't hiding, but the sort of agent that wants me to delegate and make a name for themselves, then they're in the right environment.
Meet Richard Blank: Building a Call Center Legacy
Or maybe you feel stuck and you want to get unstuck, whether that's in your life, your job, or your business. All of our guests have something in common with you. At some point in their lives, they felt something similar. They decided to do something about it. And today is no exception. Please join me in welcoming Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica's Call Center. Costa Rica's call center is a division of Cheyenne Consultants, a company incorporated, guess where? In Costa Rica. At the beginning of the new millennium, which seems further and further away, Richard relocated to Costa Rica to train over 500 employees for one of the largest call centers in Central America. Richard has gone on to successfully prepare and manage some of the finest telemarketers in the country by utilizing his motivational public speaking style backed by tactful and appropriate rhetoric. In addition, Richard earned a strong reputation as a telemarketing school owner and is often sought after for private training sessions and consultations.
Taking Risks and Chasing Your Destiny
And that's what's being a leader and an entrepreneur and willing to take those risks. And if you do, and you get lucky, the wife podcast telling tall tales of why you took risks in life and you got past parents guilt and you allowed the naysayers and great believers to love you but just not break you and these are the sort of things that when I'm explaining to you in your audience I think it might resonate with each person because everybody has their own certain and options. And I decided as a young man to be exceptionally selfish. Barbara, I needed to leave a castle, to slay a dragon, save a princess, and be a prince. I needed to drink life. I didn't know how I was gonna do it. And when this one in a million opportunity came up, that almost answers your question, my friend. I just grabbed it, held on, and saw where it was gonna take me. And that's the beauty of life. And you can live it like that. And you see where your vision quest and your destiny takes you.
Richards vision quest journey is filled with twists and turns. At 27 years old, he relocated to Costa Rica to train employees for one of the larger call centers in San Jose. With a mix of motivational public speaking style backed by tactful and appropriate rhetoric, Richard shared his knowledge and trained over 10 000 bilingual telemarketers over two decades.
Richard Blank has the largest collection of restored American Pinball machines and antique Rockola Jukeboxes in Central America making gamification a strong part of CCC culture.Richard Blank is the Chief Executive Officer for Costa Rica s Call Center since 2008.
Mr. Richard Blank holds a bachelors degree in Communication and Spanish from the University of Arizona and a certificate of language proficiency from the University of Sevilla, Spain.
A Keynote speaker for Philadelphia's Abington High School 68th National Honors Society induction ceremony. In addition, entered into the 2023 Hall of Fame for Business along side other famous alumni. Paying it forward to Abington Senior High School is very important to Mr. Blank. As such, he endows a scholarship each year for students that plan on majoring in a world language at the university level.
Richard Blank hired bassist Garry Gary Beers of INXS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieGjN5H4xPQ
https://costaricascallcenter.com
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