Richard Blank, the Chief Executive Officer of Costa Rica's Call Center, elucidates the paramount significance of emotional intelligence and cultural respect in effective leadership. Throughout our discussion, he shares his transformative journey from a call center employee to a leader who has trained over 10,000 bilingual telemarketers. His approach is characterized by a profound belief in the necessity of understanding the diverse backgrounds of team members while fostering a corporate culture that prioritizes positivity and engagement. Blank emphasizes the importance of language as a bridge to connect with employees, enhancing their sense of belonging and respect within the workplace. Ultimately, our conversation underscores the critical role that empathy and intentional communication play in cultivating a thriving organizational environment.

Takeaways:

• Richard Blank emphasizes the significance of speaking the local language to build rapport and respect with team members.
• Creating a positive corporate culture is paramount for enhancing employee morale and productivity, as demonstrated by Richard's leadership style.
• Richard advocates for emotional intelligence and empathy as essential qualities for effective leadership and team management.
• The importance of appreciating long-term employees cannot be overstated, as their loyalty and experience contribute significantly to organizational success.
• Richard's unique approach to leadership involves gamification and fostering a fun environment, which cultivates employee engagement.
• Leadership requires maturity and impulse control, enabling leaders to guide their teams effectively through challenges.

Links referenced in this episode:

• CEOcostaricascallcenter.com

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Costa Rica's Call Center

Mentioned in this episode:

Thank you for listening

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Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight - Welcome

Welcome to the podcast

Hi, everybody and welcome to the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast where we hear from influential leaders and their game changing insights.

I'm Jacqueline Strominger, your host and today I want to welcome our amazing guest, Richard Blank.

Holy guys, you are going to just be just amazed with his experience, what he's done.

So just to give you a little background on Richard, first of all, he truly believes in leadership, a strong corporate culture and creating success within a team.

So Richard's journey started in a call center.

And like everybody's journey, there's always twists and turns.

When he was 27 years old, he was relocated to Costa Rica to train over 5,000 employees for one large call center in San Jose.

With a mix of motivational, public speaking style backed by tactical and appropriate rhetoric, Richard has, he's shares his knowledge and he's trained over 10,000 bilingual telemarketers.

He has, you know, he is a great leader because he also brings in fun.

He has the largest collection of restored American pinball machines and antique Roccola is.

Am I saying that right?

Yes.

In Central America, making gamification a strong part of the call center's culture, which is really important.

He is.

Richard, I am so excited to have you as a guest on this show and to share insights and I want to start off with what you've got lots of years, although you don't look like you still look like you're 27.

What is and what has def was a defining moment in your leadership journey that has really transformed how you lead.

Well, first, I can't thank you, no, Jacqueline, for being a guest.

I'm so happy to be here and I love your show.

So thank you.

Some reason I'm here to share some tails and ticks and tricks.

What I learned is the basics.

It's the foundation.

The fact that the first impression for me is that I could speak their language.

Yeah, I could talk about anything, but at least I showed proper grammar and vocabulary and in our charm and our smile and our way from being from the United States.

But we both understood the dedication and, and the structure and the discipline.

So once we could exchange that in two languages, there is that bond.

And so I like being some other people that come here and run companies and try to get people to speak for them.

We call them Porto Vaz.

I'm the boss.

I'm making sure that I can relate to them during good and bad times just to make sure that I can reduce Any sort of attrition and just really choose in a selective way the right people that would be here long term.

So with what you just said, something that comes to my brain and is that.

Is that you went there when you were 27.

Did you speak the language already?

I did.

Okay.

So that's really important.

And.

Yeah.

And that's respect.

It wasn't overnight.

I wasn't an honor student and I didn't go Ivy League.

This is what happened in high school.

You have to make a decision.

Right.

A lot of my friends were going into law and medicine, family business, real estate, you name it.

They had a plan.

Yeah, I didn't have a plan.

Two things.

A, I wanted better weather than Northeast Philly, okay?

And secondly, my favorite class was Spanish.

And I had this insight where if at least I was bilingual, might open doors.

I could put it on a business card and.

And we could see where it goes.

But I tell you what, my friend, when I was doing the above and beyond school, watching the movies, reading the books, finding people to talk over coffee, that's a little bit different than studying physics.

You know, you could really.

You love it.

And so my argument to my parents was two things.

I was going to be financially responsible in state.

Tuition at Arizona was great, so I was going to be a Spanish major.

And secondly, Great Grandpa did it.

He came from Eastern Europe to New York and learned English at the turn of the 20th.

Come on, give him a break.

It's in our blood.

Let me do it.

Come on.

For Grandpa.

But that's so important.

That's my argument.

No, but that's, you know, so I don't know.

There was a really.

There's a good book and I've shared it recently.

It's.

Jack Finney wrote it.

It's like, it's called Time and Again.

And they talk about.

It's a.

He goes back in time and one of the times he goes back into is, I want to say, 20s and 30s maybe.

I don't know.

I can't really remember that part.

But what I do remember about the thing that stuck to me and about leadership and about was that when people came over then.

So like your grandfather, he came over, he learned English.

That's right.

He learned the language because he wanted to be part of the culture and be part of the community here, because that's what we spoke.

And there's a sense of pride when you learn the language and you become part of the community.

And you did that going to Costa Rica.

That is right.

And so what that Also shows the people that you're the community that you're becoming part of.

It shows them that you respect them and that helps elevate you.

Does something.

It's.

It's like, you know, it says, oh, he's not just here to have as you.

I know you.

There was a beautiful word that you use.

You know, the, the, the translator in between.

You wanted to be able to speak to people the way that they are spoken to in their, in their native time.

And that's, that's huge part of leadership and that's a huge.

Again, I keep going back to respect because you're respecting the culture of where.

You are and then taking it to the second level of not just administering a call center, but through my classes, observations, and coaching.

They do understand the Mr.

Miyagi here, they're all Daniel sons.

Come on.

You know I can chop bottlenecks.

Right?

Right.

My point being is I'm not doing it for my own ego.

I'm letting them know you're in a beautiful environment where I'm going to pay it forward.

I'm going to balance your bike.

I'm going to increase your vocabulary and your balance on the phone.

So you have these amazing soft skills that, that you can use outside of the office to make a happy life because you'll be an advanced communicator and.

An advanced skills happy life.

And it does go outside.

What do you think it does, you know, to help resonate not just inside, but, but when you say going outside, what do you think it does for those people when they go home or when they interact with other people without prying?

I've heard stories from people when I've seen them on an off day or out of character.

Some will disclose, some have even cried like men twice my size.

They have responsibilities.

They carry care of parents or grandparents or children or.

Times are tight.

And so without asking or for them giving.

Sometimes I do give things into consideration.

If somebody is offbeat that day.

And so I'm hoping that while they're with me that they recharged batteries, let off steam, their buddy sitting next to them was able to give them a thumbs up for another day, or even if they do want to have coffee with me and see me as a mentor, someone that they could speak to without any sort of judgment, then I'd be more than happy to not be their dad and go home with them and try to solve it all.

That's not me, right?

But I'll talk about the time I broke a window and then I knocked on the door and admitted it and paid for it and made it right.

The best stories that you can tell are the ones where you fell out of the tree and you learned what to do.

Don't scold them or lecture them or try to, you know, speak down to them.

They're asking you for guidance, which means it's.

It's not the misery that loves company.

It's the senior in high school or the big brother or the mentor that can say, young man, this is how you balance yourself again and redo it again.

Because I've been there, and I like when people do that.

They shed a skin, they become vulnerable, and they're willing to learn at that moment when it's most critical.

And you and me having leverage, being able to break them if we wanted to make them cry.

We take this delicate moment like some people have done in our past, educators, friends, right.

And we have a moment that is private and said what needs to be said.

Straight shooting.

Fix that tie there, Jacqueline.

Come on.

And then you change them.

And that's a beautiful thing to be given that sort of responsibility.

And that's the price that you pay if you run a company and you have hundreds working with you.

And so if you're willing to give a little bit of that time in the moment when they need you the most, that is how you make them feel.

And that is the longest sort of energy and light that you could ever get out of somebody.

Ten years from now, they'll say, I remember that day.

You made me feel like a million dollars.

I didn't.

And you wore this nice red tie.

I'm like, you remember?

So, yeah, it's a nice thing to.

To pay it forward like that.

It's passing the light of the candle to the next.

That's all.

And first of all, that's just beautiful because I think that's, like, to me, listeners, and when you're listening to this, I think that is one of the most important things that we can do, which is have that emotional intelligence and have empathy for the people that are in our charge.

Our team members.

I think of every employer, employee relationship as it's.

It's a big team that's playing together, and you need to be able to.

It is.

It's giving that person that.

That power of.

Of knowing that they can communicate with you.

They can go to you.

And you're not going to scold them like a dad, but you're going to help them find their path and lift them up.

You want to hear something cool?

Let me Give you a football analogy.

You and I did at least nine first downs before they came to me for that touchdown.

This wasn't a random thing where I don't know who Billy is.

There's been so many times I've congratulated you for making amazing phone calls.

There were a couple more times I saw you in the lunchroom when we broke bread together, or we played Pac man or pinball.

And the first day you were here, I introduced myself and said you were cool.

We did the training together, and you were great on the phone.

And so not a Johnny come lately.

And I'm not a flowers guy.

After you got in trouble.

No way.

That knock on the door for good or bad, is because we are set and we're like that, and you're not afraid of me.

We respect one another.

Yeah.

And so you're coming to me, and I see you, and I will literally stop a meeting and make sure.

Listen, Jacqueline's at the door.

Guys.

Give me five minutes.

Come on in.

I'm in your vip.

First time at the door.

This is amazing.

And so I'd be extremely excited to see what you have to say, because you're one of my top agents on the phone, and everyone loves you.

So I'd love to know what you have to say.

It's like a prince of a castle, you know, coming with really good news.

And that's.

And that really just shows amazing respect and putting the people first.

And they're your team members.

They're the people.

They're doing.

They may be doing the work, but they.

But they also help elevate the whole company.

So I.

I have a.

So speaking on this, because it's really about culture.

So how.

If you can give one tip on creating and cultivating great culture, what would it be?

I have to think of the core.

Okay.

So it's got to be the trunk of the tree, not the branches of the roots.

It's got to be individual.

So for me, it's really not being hard on myself.

That's the deepest.

That's the worst.

You can ruin it in regards to health and focus and timing and everything.

And so if you, regardless of the outcome, do certain things with the best intentions and the best plan.

Okay.

It's a perfect play.

Sometimes things happen, Right?

And you can do preventative measures the most that you can.

But if you literally did everything, then you should live with yourself on that.

Some of the people all of us admire in any sort of vertical.

Some of the greatest parts of their bio is when you hear when they get knocked down, what did Billy do?

How did he get back?

Right.

And you know, you want to hear about the strong comeback when they rise like a phoenix.

And you always mention in regards to the guests that you have, it's not just the good times, it's also the knockdowns, but it's the middle when we're training for the, for the match again.

And it's, it comes in all shapes and sizes, just not for the bells and the whistles and the lights in the moment.

And when you look back at is you being consistent.

But not just work, because that could be too much like chocolate at Halloween.

Right.

You need outside interest.

And thankfully for me, I love working out.

I love washing my convertible.

I play a lot of pinball.

My wife and I do some traveling.

So we, So I have a very nice balance.

Because if you just do the wheel, that thing's going to lose its sharpening as well.

You need to desensitize and decompress and laugh at yourself from time to time.

Yeah.

And call that client and say, listen, Jacqueline, I'm sorry for yelling.

I was just so excited, you know, you know, I was interrupting too much.

I was excited.

And those are nice resets again that you can do if you treasure a relationship.

And leadership is being mature and having impulse control and just the little things, the little garnishes to make it really nice and shown such effort that's put into it instead of just something that's printed out and thrown out.

And I like paintings and I like home cooked meals and podcasts of spending time together.

It's so much nicer.

The energy transfer is incredible.

And the more that we text and we chat and we email, this is what's going to be seen as a luxury.

And yes, I just find it to be very nice these days, you know.

Yes.

Communication is so, it's so important.

And the face to, whether I mean face to face on zoom or face to face in person, you know, putting these down and actually, you know, hearing from you about creating that culture of positivity in, in a company, about creating that balance and helping your team members, you know, the people that are working with you, understand that to me, that is, it's so important and I'm sure you could share.

How important do you think creating that positive culture is to performance in the organization?

No offense, but I can't stand negative Nancy's and Debbie Downers.

No offense taken.

You and I are on the same page with that.

Right.

Or the cancer.

Someone that makes funny faces and Gives you the stink eye.

You're like, what?

Seriously?

I.

All I said was, buenos dias.

You can say buenos dias.

Back to Miliana.

Come on, don't be so bitter.

But what are you going to do?

It's.

It's the sort of thing where, as I mentioned before, is it just a one and a D, or is it someone that got through the cracks and actually got into the company?

I need people that.

It's very interesting because here at a call center, you'll have superstars, like the big guys at the gym and those that work out next to them, work in with them or even ask questions.

They might figure out routines to get bigger, stronger.

And I never had a problem walking up to somebody and asking how to do triceps or dips or certain exercises better.

And we will sit them next to them for natural shadowing.

They're sitting next to someone for eight hours a day.

They're going to hear this guy making the calls.

They have to feed off of that energy.

And imitation is flattery.

Next thing you know, we rotate out of those, and those person goes there.

And it's very interesting how these plants grow and with whom they feel most comfortable, because the shy ones might not want to be with the loud ones.

You know, he's too much of a greaser.

You know, they want more of a preppy kid.

So throw them over with this guy.

You know, it's kind of like high school.

Which.

Which day were they going to feel most comfortable with the goth kids with all the tattoos and stuff?

Yes, stick them with the goth kids and.

But they're beautiful speakers.

And anyone that's bilingual bears the mark of higher education.

And if they have a slight accent, which I do when I speak Spanish, it's almost like Ricardo Montoban on Fantasy island speaking English, right?

You get a double, take it like, my man sounds good.

And so I admire what they do, and they know it, too.

And so by giving them this positive reinforcement when it's necessary, it's the perfect way when you have your sheep and your little sheep, you know, dog, I can do some wiggles.

There's some twists and turns and zigs and zags, but we're still going back to the barn.

But don't be so rigid on people and still be part of the people.

And don't feel that you're better than anybody, because I tell you what, the moment that no one comes back, you don't have a company anymore.

And so the market speaks.

And the fact that these individuals do come Back day after day and year after year, between me and you and your audience, what do you say to someone who's been with you 15 years?

Thank you.

Do you thank them enough with that sort of time?

It's past the point.

Kind of like in Star Trek, when everyone's like friends and no one's really in charge anymore.

It's like me, I've been with this guy for so long, dude, you know, you're in charge.

The server room, it says, what do I salute you?

I mean, come on.

It's.

It gets past weird.

It gets comfortable, right?

Where nicknames are given and winks are done and you just, you break bread over the years and it's just.

You feel exceptionally fortunate to have found the right people, and that's all.

Just be humble.

If those decide to come and stand and walk with you for another day, please just take your time to acknowledge that.

Okay, first of all, that is so beautiful and to acknowledge people.

And I, and I feel like, like listeners, if you're talking about leadership and you want to make a positive impact and change within your company, listen to what Richard just said.

It's admire, be positive, reinforce that positivity.

And what you said is, you know, breaking bread.

You're creating a family environment at your company and at the call center and helping people, you know, feed off of the right energy.

With the right people, you get to know people.

And you're going to know that if Susie is sitting next to Jill and it's not the right energy, you remove them to somebody else so that they can, they can get the right energy.

And because energy attracts, like energy and people need to have that, but it's also creating that family experience and knowing that people are part of something and they're feeling like they're part of something greater than themselves.

And they know that when they walk into the company and my phone is going, did not go on, do not disturb.

But when they're walking in and they're, and, and they're part of something and they're doing that day after day and they have a smile on their face because they feel appreciated and respected, they're going to keep coming back and there isn't going to be that negative Nelly chatter because we all don't like that.

But you need to stop that in its tracks.

And you stop that by helping people create positive environments.

You're so correct.

And it's, you know, and I would bet that the people that are in your call centers and as a leader, that is, that is, it's it's, it's a great thing to have as a, you know, in a leader and as a leader.

So I'm curious, did somebody teach that to you or did you read it in a book?

Or how did you get to this, to have this knowledge?

Because not everybody does.

Like you would think that we would.

But I guess when you're younger, in regards to popularity or the way that people see you, forget growing up, insecurities of youth, the question is, were you invited to parties?

Did people say hello to you?

Were you invited to play sports or games?

Did people call you back?

You know, do parents say nice things about you?

So the fact that I might have been cute or I had some sort of, you know, memorized two or three one liners that maybe my dad or mom taught me, where the parents would think I was interesting, Like I'd say something great after dinner, yum, yum, yum, or my dummy or something, who knows?

But just being silly enough, but clever enough for them to remember me and say, hey, if you had to choose your friends, hey, what about that Richard boy?

You know, I remember he was not shy.

He was, he was neat.

And I like kids that are interesting for you.

Right?

So maybe I was invited to more things than other kids potentially, or people networked me through connections because of whom I knew.

And that was very nice for me.

It was a great reinforcement.

And I, I guess my network was my net worth back in the day.

And so I realized that instead of trying to be cool on the spot or put somebody down or be part of the general joke, it wasn't right.

You were better off being friends with one person at a time than trying to win the whole crowd in one time.

And a lot of the times I would choose the outliers, not the head guy because they're already busy.

So I'd rather choose the four other guys that are chilling over here or the girls hanging out over there just to introduce myself, because why I might be able to talk for a minute and so get a chance to introduce myself.

Next thing you know, I got the VIP backdoor line to meet the other people and everyone's meeting everybody.

And so that's all you just.

I always like B sides.

B sides were fun for me because some of them are still hits.

And, and I never like waiting in long lines.

I always like to see if, you know, you knew the right guy or someone knew somebody.

Right.

It was always a game for me as well.

But, you know, it needed to be authentic in regards to giving compliments and secondly, the more that you remember about somebody, it's nice and it's just not the one thing that when you did ABC this one day, if you happen to were invited to their home one time or you were in a certain place and they had mentioned, hey, I love the color blue.

You know, when somebody does remember small details about you, if they mentioned pinball machines to me, Philadelphia, I drive a cool convertible, I'd be like, my man, you remember these things and it's just, it separates you from everybody else that's just doing small talk or barely acknowledging or just.

I don't even know why you're even talking to me.

I guess to pass the time.

But it's interesting, the layers and levels that you get with people.

But then again, it's work on our end, young lady.

You and I need to do a sort of good memory or tell a good story, or at least cut the fat and let you lead.

And then maybe we finish.

So at least we both get half the pie.

And so that's important for me too, because time is tight, you know, it's like the scent of the woman.

Al Pacino dancing with this woman.

It's five minutes of the most beautiful dance.

Listen, they didn't get married.

Nothing happened.

But don't tell me that they didn't remember that five minute moment for the rest of their lives, right?

And so if you have a chance to meet somebody for a minute, five minutes or whatever, it should be beautiful.

Even if it's not a dance, you should have proper introductions.

There should be a solid center and a beautiful conclusion.

It should be tied up in a bow.

If it's a one time thing, then so be it.

But it was beautiful and you did it.

And that's the way.

I need these people to jump clouds and have romantic deaths on the phone and to try to see things of the old world of when people barely got to meet anybody from another village.

And when you got to meet someone, it was so exciting, right?

It's like being on a deserted island.

I'm waving at any ship.

So make friends out there.

And that's just, I guess the way I see life.

And that sort of passion in front of my crew is good enough and unorthodox enough and a little bit zany enough for them to say, hey, I kind of like this.

It's like Animal House, but the kid can actually get on podcasts and make phone calls.

Yeah, I'll definitely work at this center.

Why not?

Why don't we add a little special sauce to making These phone calls in a game room, Willy Wonka environment.

Let's do it a little bit differently than all the people that are sterile and boring.

I think they're cooler than everybody.

You know that we got the game.

That's the way I thought about it.

But you've treated it and created such an amazing environment for people to grow and create the understanding that you get to know people, and that's so important.

You know what you just said about network to network.

I mean, I talk about that all the time where, you know, I always say that I am a absolute billionaire because I love the people in my network because I can help them grow and I can connect people together, which helps me feel good when I make those connections.

Because it's, it's like that priceless mastercard moment when you get to.

When you meet, when you put two people together and you're like, oh.

And it's not for any, you know, monetary reason.

It's just for the pleasure of making the connection because it fills your cup and that's, that's your net worth.

That's like, I always, like, I'm like a billionaire.

I love making those connections with people and getting to know people and asking questions.

And it is, it's.

And, but it's a key thing that we shared before these have to go away.

Because you don't learn that in texting.

You know, I'm not going to learn about that you love the color blue or that I might not know about your convertible or that you're from Philly through texting, but we are going to know by we having a conversation.

We're going to know by asking questions and learning about each other.

And, and, and it is, it's making sure, you know, what you said that if it's five minutes that you have with somebody, can we make sure that those five minutes lift somebody up and make them feel better than, than they did when they first met you?

The first, you know, that first minute we, when they leave you, do they five minutes later?

We hope that we've raised their energy and they're feeling a little bit better, maybe walking and feeling a little bit prouder and taller.

And it's a, it's a great thing to be able to do that with people in your company so that they feel that way because it's.

Then they're gonna love going to work.

I hope so.

Yeah.

Well, I would think that you're doing such a great job at it right now with what you're doing is growing and having over 10,000 people.

That's huge.

Trained over.

Yes.

But if they can learn a couple more vocabulary words a day, and the fact that they are bilingual, they.

They are studying rhetoric.

That definitely helps.

Yeah, that's sort of reinforcement, but.

No, I.

I totally hear you.

And I agree with you as well in regards to this leadership and stuff, but yeah, it's.

It's.

If you can give yourself a luxury trade, which I did, and I'm not afraid of AI, I accept it.

Uncanny valley theory is interesting.

The more it gets like humans, we might freak out about it until it gets kind of robotish again.

They're okay for the gathering.

I need your phone to communicate with you.

And I need to look up things about you to find out certain things to make sure everything works out.

But it's the empathy.

It's that last 10% to close the deal, retain the client, or whatever, that always needs to be done with the human touch.

I'll accept 90%, gather, no problemo.

But that final 10% of making the plans or congratulations.

Love you, I hate you, miss you, thought about you.

That should be made in a phone call or in person or something.

And I think that's a beautiful thing that needs to still be done.

You can't.

Please do not do that as an artificial light.

Even if there.

Do you remember with the candle down the Scooby Doo hallway, you can't really see anything but the candlelight and the darkness around you.

Forget the darkness.

Don't ever, ever, ever put out not just that light that gives you sight, but glows.

You need to still blow.

And it needs to be done naturally.

And so if it needs to has to be done slowly, then fine, so you don't bump into things.

But there are certain times in life when things are so delicate that if you are given the luxury of speaking.

Second, because you might have been way off.

Let's not tell them we were way off.

So if you're given the luxury of time so we can sleep on it, write the draft, not send it, wake up the next day, refresh and calm down about it.

Or maybe third, ask around on the slide.

Hey, Jacqueline, what do you think of abc?

Because I got to do this thing tomorrow.

My confidant to say, hey, Richie, this is what ABC is.

It's 1, 2, 3, I go, thank you.

I was all wrapped up.

I needed you off the merry go round to tell me what's going on.

And now I can do this again.

And that's the maturity.

You're willing to speak and ask and listen and Make a plan before you lay down that final card.

It's a dangerous thing.

Or it could be the most incredible thing.

But that's what I also saw in leadership with clients and with the people.

No surprises.

And if something happens, have a backup plan because you don't want to mess with people's money, time, their family.

And so respect those sort of things as well.

That's really true.

So.

So speaking of, you know, like, leadership and you know, what are you doing now?

Like, what's an area of growth for you right now in leadership?

Trying to adjust to this work from home virtual environment.

It was a love hate when Covid hit.

I stayed in business by sending everybody home.

But what happened was we lost the synergy of this environment that I was mentioning.

I'm almost mentioning the glory days.

Most of my agents are working virtual.

Why?

That's what the marketplace is.

And so what happens?

They save time and money.

The relaxation of home.

They lose the Internet.

Redundancy, backup electricity, immediate IT support.

So there is fluctuation.

Forgetting all of those weird things I just talked about.

If you and I are hanging out together, making phone calls, High five.

And so proud of you because you ripped that deal.

Right?

That's the greatest thing you could ever get.

I loved seeing that and walking the roads and then the game room packed.

People falling in love by the Pac man machine.

And it was cool.

I love my environment.

And so that's one of the challenges I have to do is to keep that sort of feeling.

So I guess the best thing I can do is still be attentive to their calls and give them excellent coaching and maybe ask some questions about them.

What's a benefit?

You get to see what's behind people.

Like, I like your little moon.

And I see a bird.

You got some other things going on.

I like your backdrop.

Like me with the jukebox and the candy machine.

You might learn a little bit about somebody when you speak with them.

So that helped, but it changed.

It's not like the old days.

Where's the drive in theater.

I used to love those.

They don't even really exist anymore.

Neither did these arcades.

And that's why I bought a lot of pinball machines of people that went out of business.

So I bought them for pennies of the dollar, cleaned out everything and got them working again.

But that was a nice gift.

That was a very enticing bell and whistle.

So when people walked through my game room, they saw fighting machines, but they saw a lot of old pinball and retro machines at an air hockey table.

And so they said to themselves, prior to accepting this job, they go, this environment looks like it's fun and the boss must treat us well.

A lot of them go, how much does it cost?

Five bucks.

I'm only kidding.

Come on.

You're not paying, but bring your own beer.

Don't do that either.

Come on, it's a party.

And so, no, it's on me.

Buy the quarters.

Yeah, seriously.

And so they look at me funny.

I go, that's just the beginning.

If you think that's great, imagine when you're here, great.

And you and I always thought about the best teacher, best coach, best boss, best work environment we could ever dream of.

And if you're ever given that leverage, you got to make it fun.

But you still need to be responsible.

But I always believe that there is a certain way to readjust balance that 10% demon in your head.

I can put it somewhere else and figure out a way to preserve the happy so you don't ice a kicker in between calls or in between rest and lunch periods.

And you did mention right bus, right seat.

There's so many amazing people here that really have a perfect fit with others.

And so you always look for that.

That's fine.

That's really nice.

And, and the idea of, of, you know, it is, it's challenging the challenge to create that camaraderie when people are working at home versus in, in an environment together.

It's, it, you know, it's, it's very different.

You know, it, it does, it creates challenges.

So how are you challenging yourself then, if anything, to grow in that area?

Like, so what are you doing to how, you know, to help that piece of the puzzle, which is adjusting to that home, work from home.

I need to keep them focused because when they're not making phone calls, there might be a chance they're not speaking English in between calls with their family, while if they're at the call center, it's non stop English all day.

So they might be losing 20%, 30% of that sort of stimulation.

Not all day, every day, but I mean, during working hours you need to be loose, right, Lucy Goosey?

Right.

So I'm just thinking of the things that I have noticed.

The last thing I'm going to do is tell you what your office environment looks like, if it looks cluttered.

But I do recommend certain things in regards to lighting if they're capable, because that bad lighting will kill you.

I recommend lava lamps.

Why?

Because I'm from the 80s.

Everyone should have a lava Lamp, of course.

So yeah, get a lava lamp.

Why?

So in between calls, you're chilling a little bit.

Okay.

And then if they want to.

And we're able to do this in between calls.

Some people like to read things or do things for their mind.

It's terrible to watch YouTube.

You don't do things like that.

You need to either read in English so you're speaking in English, or do something like a crossword puzzle or Sudoku or something.

Right.

Do I make certain recommendations?

Because if you're going to put in the time, I might pay you to do graduate level university, advanced English.

Not like reading Shakespeare.

No, the stuff I learned in college.

I will give you specific rhetoric rebuttals, vocabulary, grammar for you to use in a fun way.

And I'll give you Wikipedia pages that you should look at and look up certain words.

Why?

So, yeah, I can get you some sort of like In a sense, 6, 9, 12 units of advanced speech.

So when you're speaking on the phone, it is beautiful half moons and warm butter slices, right?

Yeah.

And where people have their balance and they love saying the name Jacqueline and saying things like that and just prolonging beautiful phone call.

Right.

So they feel fulfilled at the end.

And you want to know the secret of all secrets of leadership?

It's a positive escalation.

When somebody has assisted me prior to a transfer, I'll let Judy know how amazing she was.

I'll do it verbally to you when I speak with you, when I send you a follow up email with the meeting minutes and stuff, I will definitely mention her.

And so when I call your company back and it's unstoppable leadership spotlight.

How are you today?

Judy's gonna go, is this Richard blanket go?

Of course it is.

She goes, jacqueline told me you said the greatest things about me to her.

I've been here for five years and no one's ever said that.

And I go, that's a shame.

Right?

She said you did in writing too.

Of course I did.

She wrote me the email.

I know you did.

Am I buttering the muffin?

Come on.

Of course you need to butter the muffin.

But there's nothing wrong with telling someone no that she's doing a wonderful day.

And I did it prior to even introducing myself to you.

When I got her past the pitch and I got transferred to you.

What a nice way to reduce defense.

Give me the reduction into my offense.

Right.

You start off instead of saying, is this a sales car?

How'd you get my name to saying, who's this Mr.

Sunshine who's complimenting my assistant.

Right.

It's.

That's a beautiful way to start.

It is.

That is.

Okay.

So listeners, as you're listening, you know, Richard is absolutely amazing and everything he is saying is so phenomenal because you are.

Your leadership style is so phenomenal.

And if we could wrap it all up and bottle it and replicate it, it would be great, you know, Or I always say, if I could.

You know, one of the biggest things for me about doing this is like, I feel like if I could wave my magic wand and take all these great leaderships and leaders and sprinkle them all over and all the information all over the world, how amazing the world would be, because we're going to have all these awesome leaders and then we're gonna have all these amazing, happy team members that work with us who are then going to go out into the world and when they're interacting with other people, they're going to have a smile on their face because they are loving what they're doing and they're surrounded by good people who.

Which you are doing so well, which is leaning into people and empowering them by giving them.

Helping them with their knowledge and believing in them to be a better person of themselves.

And that is so important, you know, that belief.

So I've so enjoyed.

I could talk to you forever, but I've got two questions that I want to ask.

Nothing to do really, necessarily with leadership, but I'm really curious.

Sure.

How did you get involved?

How did you fall in love with.

With the pinball machine.

That's.

There was a show called Silver Spoons with Ricky Schroeder and he had his own home arcade.

Everyone wanted that.

It wasn't fair.

And $5 had to last me a whole weekend.

And so I can do a half an hour on Asteroids or Tempest or one of those great games, but you put on a pinball machine.

With all due respect, it was like that senior head cheerleader.

There's absolutely no way this thing.

It was.

The game was way too expensive.

It went way too fast, too complicated.

But they were the most beautiful machines.

I remember growing up from the 70s and 80s.

Yeah.

No, I love pinball machines.

I love them.

I mean, it's absolutely fantastic.

And so my other question is for your jukebox behind you.

Do you have 45 records in there?

I do.

Now, I know what you're thinking.

When I bought her and I opened it up, there was In Excess and Duran Duran.

What about Labamba?

What about Labor?

It wasn't even in that either.

I had no idea.

Nobody's names.

It wasn't even a hundred dollar jeopardy quote.

You could show me it.

I could read it and still not understand it.

I gave them away.

I traded them out.

I would bring my own down.

But they're beautiful.

They're.

They're magical.

And if you want to put an MP3 or a Bluetooth in there, that's fine.

But bring those treasures into your.

Into your homes.

Yeah.

And you'll enjoy it so much.

No, that's really beautiful.

So little side note, when I was growing up, we did have a jukebox.

We did have a pinball machine.

And I did have one of those.

One of the first.

Oh, my God.

I can't think of what it's called Space Invaders.

But it was like mechanical Space Invaders.

Like it had like this thing that went across and you had to shoot it, whatever.

But I can't remember my parents, you know, as we got older and we moved out of the house and whatever, so did the pinball machine and the jukebox and the Space Invaders.

What I would do.

Incredible.

What.

I can't believe they had that.

Let them know I'm so proud of them.

So we had it.

I had that group and I loved pinball.

I loved it.

I.

And I was really upset when I would go to like an arcade and I'm like, you mean.

I just can't keep hitting that red button to start a new game.

I have to keep.

Question.

You don't remember the machine, right.

But was it an electric, electric, mechanical machine?

Did it have the wheel?

Was it from the real early 70s or was it from the late 70s, early 80s where they did the lead?

I think it was.

It had this.

It had the spring load.

That was number one.

Yeah.

Right.

For the.

For the ball.

And it was.

It was an older machine.

It was like.

It must have had the wheel scores, right?

Oh, it did not.

No.

Right.

No, it didn't have a wheel score.

It wasn't electrical.

I love it.

And the sound was like either bells or a xylophone.

Yeah, it was like.

Yeah, we had the wheels of the numbers that go on.

It wasn't anything electrical.

Everything was.

It was older.

Yeah.

And the jukebox I loved because I could like, play the songs.

It was.

I don't know.

God only knows whatever my parents ever did with them.

But yeah.

So anyway, so we have that.

So Richard, tell us, where can people find all of your greatness and connect with you?

Well, they should buy a ticket and fly down to Costa Rica and come meet me and come.

Oh, that would be great.

I need to actually get back down to Costa Rica.

I have.

I, I'll share.

Not on, not on this podcast, but I could share a story.

Another podcast.

So where can people Crazy adventures podcast?

Exactly.

Adventures.

Leadership adventures outside of the United States leading 24 7.

You need a timeout like Superman.

Relax.

But no, you could shoot me an email@CEO costaricas call center.com.

i, I can't thank you enough.

I had the best time today.

You know, you do a great podcast and bring the best out of your guests.

Thank you.

I really, I really, really appreciate it.

So everybody listen, listen and continue listening to unstoppable leadership podcasts.

And please, please, please check out and connect with Richard.

He is really a wealth of knowledge and has a great leadership style and knows how to get people and lead, how to lead people, which is really the most important thing and make people feel good about what they're doing.

So thank you so much for being a guest and thank you everybody for listening and I appreciate you.

This is the Unstoppable Leadership Spotlight podcast where we hear from influential leaders and game changing insights.

So thank you.