As Professor Emeritus of Communication at Rollins College, Rick created the college’s first listening course and was recognized by The Princeton Review as one of the Top 300 Professors in America. He is also a Certified Listening Professional and a member of the Listening Hall of Fame with the International Listening Association.

Rick is the coauthor of Listening Leaders: The Ten Golden Rules to Listen, Lead & Succeed, written with his mentor Manny Steil, who led the most comprehensive corporate listening initiative in the United States. He later wrote Listening Pays: Achieve Significance through the Power of Listening, a book that continues to influence leaders around the world.  He has also coauthored Be Quick to Listen: Practice the Spiritual Discipline of Christian-Listening with Christine Wethman, a former student of Rick’s and a church administrator and coach.

Rick has worked with many organizations such as Walt Disney World, Lockheed Martin, Coca-Cola Bottling, Whirlpool, AT&T, Marriott, and the U.S. Department of Defense. His focus is helping leadership teams create cultures where listening leads to clarity, alignment, and meaningful results.

Rick served in Vietnam and Thailand as a U.S. Army veteran, an experience that shaped his commitment to presence, purpose, and service. He is inspired every day by his wife Quin, a world-champion ballroom dancer and America’s Got Talent Golden Buzzer recipient, who reminds him that listening leadership, like dance, begins with presence, grace, and discipline.