Robert Cornish, along with business partner Wil Seabrook, founded Richter in early 2008 to build an agency focused on communication strategies that support sales growth for business to business technology-related companies.
Bootstrapped with zero capital in the middle of the financial meltdown, Richter went on to make the Inc 5000 list comprised of the fastest-growing companies in America five times.
Leaders are Readers
When I asked Robert the most important thing for most CEO’s to focus on, without pausing, he responded: “The 700+ business books I’ve read.”
Top CEO’s are life-long students. Robert had so many questions at 21 years old, and so many were answered.
He’s found life and success to be a balance between being confident in your own knowledge and knowing that you don’t know everything.
The secret? Be confident in what you know, and willing to learn what you don’t; that’s where growth comes from.
“I think at 21, it’s interesting, it’s a it’s a balance between thinking you have all the answers and at the same time having zillions of questions. What I found is that’s that’s kind of flipped.
It’s like you have a lot of the answers. You know that you don’t know everything. So for me I’m a life-long student, I’m constantly learning and adapting and absorbing from other people. I never assume that I know everything but at the same time all those questions I had when I was 21, I don’t have anymore.
I’ve read 700+ business books and all these different things. I think one of the things that just comes down to knowledge and understanding that there’s a lot of questions I don’t have anymore. At the same time knowing that you have a lot to learn and have to be a lifelong student to try and improve yourself forever.”
– Robert Cornish
INC 5000 Growth
Having a growth viewpoint has helped him to guide his company Richter10.2 Media Group to exponential growth and making the INC 5000 for 5 straight years.
Richter made the Silicon Valley Fast 50 four times and the Entrepreneur360 award two times. The fast growth of the company has led to notoriety for Robert among not only his peers but leaders in the industry.
He has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, Selling Power Magazine, Inc Magazine and IDEA magazine. He’s been a guest speaker for ACG Los Angeles, IASA Summit, West Point and been interviewed for 33Voices and by Northwood University.
In 2012 Wiley & Sons published his book, What Works, about the lessons he’s learned while growing his agency from start-up navigating his way to a multi-million dollar agency. Robert currently owns four companies.
Robert Cornish sits down with me, Jeremy Ryan Slate, on the latest episode of the Create Your Own Life Show.
