Randall In His Own Words

Pardus (Black Leopard) symbolizes all that a human must not be, a vicious predator. Ironically, the panther also symbolizes all a human must be to succeed. “Vicious predator,” is the leopard’s nature and it thrives by being what its nature requires. It is a human being’s nature to learn, think, choose and produce, but most people fail because they do not do what their nature requires. We admire the Leopard, not for its viciousness, but for its fidelity to its nature. Human beings succeed only by being faithful to their nature as well, but most live in defiance of it. —Randall Chester Saunders, human.

Who Is Randall Chester Saunders?

I assume you came here because you want to know who Randall Chester Saunders is, not because you are curious about my biography, but because you want to know why you should be interested in anything I write or any service I offer. Why should you listen to me?

The usual way that kind of question is answered is by presenting one’s credentials or academic degrees, or listing all the agencies and organizations recognizing one as an expert, or by referring to one’s popularity in the press and elsewhere as an authority.

The truth is if I had credentials and degrees from the foremost universities in the world, and all the most prestigious agencies and organizations held me in highest esteem as an expert and I was wildly popular to the press and all other media, you would have no more reason to be interested in what I write or have to offer than you would if you never heard of me, which is probably the case.

There is only one way to discover and judge if what I write, and services I offer, are of any value to you and that is for you to personally examine them.

What Is Randall?

For most of my life, no matter what other things I was doing, I have always been a writer. As a writer, I made most of my income in technical writing as well as managing technical writing and publishing departments in both small cutting edge digital design companies and large international telephony and IT companies.

For a large part of my technical career I was a manager of many different departments, often more than one at a time including everything from board test to systems test, test systems design, software design, and of course all phases of publications. I’ve also taught classes and run training courses on different aspects of digital electronics, telephony, proprietory system and software, packet switching, and technical writing.

Polymath And Autodidact

Since I consider knowledge the most important and most valuable thing there is to acquire and achieve I am always studying and learning all I can about as many things as I can. I have studied the sciences, including physics, chemistry, and biology, especially chemistry, mechanics, and electronics, I have studied all aspects of philosophy. History, geography, music, and literature are always part of something I am learning about. Even though I largely disagree with them, I have studied psychology, sociology, ecology, and evolution as well. Very little of what I have learned and know, however, has been achieved in an academic setting, although some has. My one regret in my learning is that I’m not a polyglot, though I’m working on that.

Some History

In spite of all my study, I’ve learned the most about life and people from my experience with both. No matter how well I understand human nature I have discovered every individual person is unlike any other with endless varieties of personalities, interests, and experiences, mostly interesting, many delightful, always surprising.

When I was very young I worked in various retail businesses that involved working directly with customers and managers which brought me into contact with some wonderful people, and some that were not so wonderful and I quickly learned how to deal with even the most difficult of personalities. I also worked in finance and had to deal with people with real problems. The most difficult personal situations I dealt with was when I worked in collections—trying to work with people having trouble paying their debts, or simply refusing to.

The most important experiences I had with people, however, was during my career in electronics and publications. In addition to meeting and working with almost every kind of personality, from eccentric designers to arrogant and ignorant managers. My most important experiences were those I had managing various departments in which I was responsible for the performance and production of the employees that worked in those departments.

There was one problem I observed in all the companies I worked for, both small and large, which was much more serious in the larger ones. Most managers were neither creators nor innovators and had no understanding of what true creators and innovators were and all their policies and management styles always only interfered with the productive efforts of my best designers, writers, and technicians.

My job as a manager was to ensure that projects were completed on time, coordinated with all other relative departments, and that the quality of the work was the best possible. Practically that meant most of my time was spent running interference for my engineers, artists, writers, and technicians, protecting them from the absurd meddling of upper-management who were perpetually trying to force their ideas of “teams,” “training,” “S.O.P.s” (Standard Operating Procedures) and “endless meetings,” down their throats.

I was very successful in those efforts with the result that almost everyone who worked in any of my departments had great confidence and trust in me. Though it was my policy not to pursue a personal relationship with employees, all those workers felt comfortable enough to approach me with almost any kind of problem they had, from work related questions to personal and family problems. Because there were such a large number of workers with such diverse backgrounds and personalities there is almost no human problem I was not consulted about by someone in those years.

Perhaps the most important lesson I learned from those experiences is that no one can solve anyone else’s problems or tell them how to live their life. I certainly couldn’t. What I could often do is help them discover their own mistakes in how they were thinking and making their decisions. Sometime it was just a matter of helping identify what the problem really was which was enough for them to make their own solution. Many solved their own problems without consulting me at all, simply applying principles they had learned from me.

The Reason For This Site

The whole reason for this site is to share the principles of how to live successfully and happily that I have learned both through my studies and my experience with life and people.

It is still in development at this moment, but I’m also going to make myself available to anyone who has any kind of problem they would like to consult me about. I cannot promise to help anyone, but it won’t cost you anything but your time, and I have had success in helping others who were totally disappointed with professionals who did not help them all.

Randy

Randall Chester Saunders