Richard Hilliard

Teaching Philosophy / Goals

In many ways I am an idealistic dreamer with sufficient practicality to have achieved considerable success as a military counter intelligence field officer, as a business executive/company president, as a published business writer, and as a college professor. In business I worked my way through the senior financial service executive ranks to the position of company president. About two decades ago I followed one of my dreams when I retired from the world of business and joined the Nichols College faculty as a full time tenure-track professor of business management.

I earned a double major in Economics and Sociology from Bates College, a Masters from Trinity College, and have finished "All But my Dissertation" (ABD) in Leadership from University of Connecticut. In addition to advanced academic degrees I earned both the Chartered Life Underwriter and the Chartered Financial Consultant designations and I remain active in the Society of Financial Service Professionals. I am also active in the Academy of Management (Professors) and other professional groups, and I remain the founding president of my company, The Oxford Group.

My decision to move from executive to professor was a wise one for me. Since joining the Nichols faculty I have received almost every teaching award and other form of recognition imaginable. I continue to do my homework ...mastering my material ...learning about my student-clients ...researching marketplace expectations ...and doing whatever else it takes to maintain the high quality expected of our student-product. My ratings are high, and I have now helped over 10,000 students articulate and follow their dreams to success and happiness.

College teaching is a twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week, challenge/calling that, contrary to conventional wisdom, does not end during breaks or in the summer. Those of us teaching the business disciplines stay current through outside coursework, conferences, and in my case through outside consulting.

I spend considerable time learning about each of my students. I have never really taught a class ...I teach individuals ...often student-friends ...who happen to be in the same room at the same time. I am so certain that individualized personal attention is the key to understanding our latest generation that during a one year sabbatical a few years ago I wrote a book designed to help the business community connect with our newest generation. Some have suggested that my ability to help mold the potential of the student to the needs and expectations of the marketplace has returned significant dividends to Nichols College through increased student enrollments, improved retention, and extraordinary alumni success.

I have received many honors in my military, business, publication, and academic careers, but for me the greatest honor was being named "Outstanding Professor" by our Nichols College students. That was followed closely by my being accepted as a tenured member of the extraordinary Nichols College faculty. I am now an emeritus faculty member looking forward to another decade of working with the finest undergraduate students, the finest graduate students, the finest alumni, and the finest faculty and staff members imaginable. To all I say, "Dream on, my friends!"

 

Interests

I enjoy business research and writing, have published many articles, and am now writing my seventh manuscript, my first business based novel. I maintain my interest in community service ...I serve on a number of town committees, I am a Deacon of my church, and recently my peers elected me President of my Bates College class. My hobbies include restoring classic cars and classic boats ...I am partial to the tranquil waters of nearby Glen Echo Lake and of idyllic Cape Cod shore.

Courses I Teach

I have been asked to list six of the 27 college undergraduate and graduate courses that I teach. What follows is a combined list in what I consider the order of course importance to the student, with a notation as to why.

Strategic Management: There are no right answers ...and no wrong answers.

Operations Management: More is not necessarily better ...but better is better.

Entrepreneurship: You will never get rich ...working for someone else.

Leadership: To become a great leader ...you must first have been a good follower.

Sales Management: It is necessary to brand yourself ...and to always protect that brand.

International Management: The key to global and all other success is ...be sensitive to others.

Professional Development Seminars IV, III, II, and I: I am ...in charge of my own future!