Founder and Chairman of The Inventure Group, a coaching and consulting firm in Minneapolis, MN, Richard has a worldwide practice working with leaders from organizations such as Ameriprise, Caterpillar, Ericsson, Habitat for Humanity, MetLife, Pfizer and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

Richard is consistently rated as one of the top executive educators and coaches in the world.  He is ranked by Forbes as one of the “Top 5” most respected executive coaches, by Linkage as one of the “Top 50” executive coaches, and by the Conference Board as a “legend in coaching.”

As a speaker and seminar leader, he has taught over 100,000 executives from 50 corporations worldwide.  He is an adjunct faculty on executive education programs at Duke Corporate Education and the University of Minnesota Carlson School's Executive Development Center.  He is a guest lecturer in the Harvard Business School's General Management Program.  

Richard is the author of eight books, including three best sellers, and his work has been translated into 21 languages.  Repacking Your Bags and The Power of Purpose are considered classics in the personal development field. Claiming Your Place at the Fire and Something to Live For, have been touted as breakthrough books on “positive aging.”  He is a contributing author to many leading edge coaching books, including:  Coaching for Leadership, The Art and Practice of Leadership Coaching, Executive Coaching for Results, The Leader of the Future, and The Organization of the Future.

Richard holds a Master’s Degree in Counseling and is a Nationally Certified Master Career Counselor.  He is a Carlson Executive Education Fellow in the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management.  He is a Senior Fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Center for Spirituality and Healing where he is a founder of The Purpose Project.  As a commentator on work/life issues, Richard appears in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and USA Today, and on PBS public television, NPR public radio and other media sources.  Along with his professional pursuits, Richard has led Inventure Expedition walking safaris in Tanzania, East Africa for 25 years.

A pioneer and leader in the field of coaching, Richard is widely recognized for his leading edge work on helping people discover “their calling” in work and life.  His work received recognition from the Bush Foundation, from which he was awarded a Bush Fellowship to study “purposeful aging.”  He was named a “Distinguished Alumni” by Gustavus Adolphus College and to the “Hall of Fame” at Central High School in St. Paul, MN.  Believing passionately that each of us is born with a purpose, he is dedicated to helping people to “discover the power of purpose.”


Speeches / Presentations

• “Creating Meaning in Your Life and Work: The Power of Purpose,” Pfizer World Wide Human Resources Conference, Mystic, CT
  
• “Working On Purpose in a Changing World,” University of Minnesota 19th Biennial Alumni Institute Medical Health Administrators Alumni Association/Foundation, Minneapolis
  
• “Repacking Your Bags for the Good Life,” American Express Financial Advisors’ Women Venture Conference, Minneapolis
  
• “The Power of Purpose,” Strategic Executive Education Network Conference, Boston
  
• “What Do I Want Out of the Second Half of My Life and Work?” The Stewards First Annual Gathering, Santa Monica, CA
  
• “Working On Purpose in a Changing World,” Nippon Wilson Learning Client Conference, Tokyo
  
• “Repacking Your Bags: Igniting the Spirit of Growth and Renewal,” Quality Leadership Conference, Fairview Health Systems, Minneapolis

Articles

• Keeping Life In Balance (Vol. 1, No. 1)
• Finding Your Uniqueness (Vol. 2, No. 1)
• How To Counsel Yourself (Vol. 2, No. 2)
• The Rustout Syndrome: A Personal and Organizational Perspective (Vol. 2, No. 3)
• Lifestyles of the Rich in Purpose (Vol. 2, No. 4)
• Refinding Your Smile (Vol. 3, No. 1)
• Igniting the Spark (Vol. 3, No. 2)
• It's The Time Of Your Life (Vol. 4, No. 1)
• Finding Your Calling on the Road (Vol. 4, No. 2)
• I Wonder Where the Road Less Traveled Would've Taken Me? (Vol. 4, No. 3)
• Confessions of a Technophobe (Vol. 5, No. 1)
• Natural Productivity: A Parable (Vol. 5, No. 3)
• Unleashing the Human Spirit at Work (Vol. 5, No. 3)
• Discovering Your Voice for the Second Half of Your Life (Vol. 5, No. 4)
• Are You Leading Two Lives (Vol. 6, No. 1)
• Vision Quest (Vol. 6, No. 2)
• Why Do You Get Up In The Morning? (Vol. 6, No. 2)
• Inventure Coach (Vol. 6, No. 4)
• Let's Retire the Word Retire (Vol. 6, No. 4)
• Are You Working Naturally? (Vol. 7, No. 1)
• Inventure Coach (Vol. 7, No. 1)
• Inventure Coach (Vol. 7, No. 2)
• Why Should I Follow You? (Vol. 7, No. 2)
• Inventure Coach (Vol. 7, No. 3)
• The Drain of Indecision (Vol. 7, No. 3)
• Inventure Coach Should Your Book Be Published (Vol. 7, No. 4)
• Inventure Coach (Vol. 8, No. 1)
• Finding Your Place in the World (Vol. 8, No. 2)
• Inventure Coach (Vol. 8, No. 2)
• Coaching as a Spiritual Practice (Vol. 8, No. 3)
• Inventure Coach (Vol. 8, No. 3)
• For the Sake of What? (Vol. 8, No. 4)
• When We Were All Hunter-Gatherers (Vol. 8, No. 5)
• Who Are the Elders in Your Tribe? (Vol. 9, No. 1)