The RebelRebel Podcast by author Michael Dargie. Special guest CEO Richard Blank

The RebelRebel Podcast is a regular dive into the hearts and minds of creative rebels and entrepreneurs from around the globe, it's a love letter to those mad fools who think audaciously and act courageously in service to making the world a better and more interesting place.

“You shouldn’t use words to burn. They should be for light and for warmth.”
Richard has spent the last 19 years running a near-shore bilingual contact center that thrives on empathy, communication, and human connection in an era dominated by automation.

In this episode, Michael Dargie sits down with Richard Blank, CEO of Costa Rica’s Call Center. Richard has spent the last 19 years running a near-shore bilingual contact center that thrives on empathy, communication, and human connection in an era dominated by automation .

Richard’s story begins in Philadelphia, where childhood trips to Mexico sparked his love of Spanish and culture. After studying Spanish in college, he took what was supposed to be a short trip to Costa Rica to teach English at a friend’s center. Instead, he fell in love—with the country, with the culture, and with the woman who would become his wife. That leap of faith became a lifelong adventure, culminating in the creation of Costa Rica’s Call Center .

He explains why call centers aren’t just about dialing lists—they’re about rhetoric, persuasion, and the art of speech. For Richard, the real skill lies in listening, building rapport, and finding those rare “positive escalations” where a customer compliments an representative to their supervisor. He compares communication to fire: it can burn, but it can also light and warm, and the best representatives know how to use it for encouragement and clarity .

The conversation ranges widely, from his love of 1970s electromechanical pinball machines and jukebox rescues in the Costa Rican mountains, to his passion for movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High and The Maltese Falcon. Richard also shares the daily joys of Costa Rican life—warm rain in a convertible, fresh seafood

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