The Path to Growth: Embracing Discomfort
with Rich Bishop
The Corvus Effect / Episode 20
Released: March 24, 2025
Overview
Rich Bishop got tapped on the shoulder at Nestlé to ‘figure out’ how to use data to drive sales decisions despite having no sales background — and that one moment of ‘just figure it out, in community’ became the foundation for everything he built next. Mid Game Consulting is named for the halftime adjustments companies need to make as they scale through bands — $2M to $10M, $10M to $30M — because what got you to the first band rarely gets you to the next. This conversation is also about why Rich considers being a father his most important job, and about the work-from-home OG who taught him that — his mother, transcribing medical notes from a tape recorder in 1980s New England so she could be home when he got off the bus.
About Rich Bishop
Rich Bishop is the founder of Mid Game Consulting, John Maxwell-certified in leadership development, and the author of Childlike Leadership. He helps growing businesses make the structural and mindset shifts that get them through the next growth band — and he does it as a partner, not by stepping on people to get to the result.
Listen to the Full Episode
Key Takeaways
1. It has to be done in community
When Rich was told to ‘figure out’ data-driven sales at Nestlé, he didn’t fake the parts he didn’t know — he surrounded himself with people who had the pieces of expertise he didn’t and built it as a team. ‘I can’t stand fake it till you make it’ is how he says it; the real move is leaning on people who’ve been there and contributing back where you can. The leaders who admit they don’t have all the answers are the ones who actually find the right ones.
2. Mid-game adjustments — the bands you have to renegotiate
The first $2M is hard, but what gets you there often won’t get you to $10M — and from $10M to $30M is another structural rewrite, and from $30M to $100M another. Every band requires changes the founder didn’t have to make in the previous one. The hardest part isn’t seeing what needs to change; it’s letting go of the security blanket that worked last time.
3. My most important job is as a father
Rich’s mother became a medical transcriptionist in the 1980s so she could be home when he got off the bus — the original work-from-home OG. He runs his business so his daughters get the same — present at dance practice, present at homework, present in the small windows where parenting actually happens. The legacy isn’t the title or the company; it’s the kids prepared for life because you didn’t outsource the job that mattered most.