Clent Richardson — 10 Years Gone But Still Missed

Clent Richardson — 10 Years Gone But Still Missed

Clent was a selfless giver who passed away 10 years ago this week.

In about 2011 I was introduced to a guy named Clent Richardson. He had just moved back to the US after senior leadership stints at Apple, T-Mobile, Tivo and AVG. He had quite the reputation and the best way to describe him was a well-dressed swashbuckler. Clent never believed in being underdressed and always adorned a beautiful watch and pocket square. “Why would you ever underdress for an occasion?” he would say.

Clent and I met up over coffee and I was in the throes of trying to hold on for dear life with a company that was exploding. I was way out over my skis in terms of my abilities and was starting to make some costly mistakes.

Clent said to me, “Look, I’m pretty experienced at this stuff and I’m at a place in my career where I want to give back. I’m back in Portland now and looking to join a corporate board and two non-profit boards. I like what you’re doing and think I could help you.”

Adding someone to your board is a non-trivial kind of thing to do. This is a person that will ultimately have a say in your future running the company you founded. You don’t just enter in that lightly. Clent read me like a book.

“You don’t know me from Adam so here’s what I’m going to do; I’ll dedicate 6 months of weekly meetings to you on your timeline and at your office. Ideally we’d do it later in the week and have up to 90 minutes. These meetings are closed door and meant to be no-holds barred. Anything goes and you should be honest and open with me otherwise I can’t help. The format I would recommend is simple. As you go about your week think about our discussion in 3 buckets; tactical, strategic and investment/board-level. When you hit a road block during your week, bucket the item into one of those and then forget about it until our discussion. By the time our meeting rolls around you’ll already have a framework for our meeting. If at the end of 6 months it isn’t helpful, I’ll go on my way.”

I was gobsmacked. Here was this ridiculously successful senior executive offering me his time to help me out. How could I say no?!

Clent and I went on to work together for the next 6 months and I unburied myself from being so far behind and finally took my company by the horns. He helped me work through team issues, board challenges, fundraising and two significant acquisitions. We were growing by leaps and bounds and at the end of our 6 months I pulled Clent onto my board where he helped us take it to places I never thought we could go.

I got back from a much needed vacation in mid-July 2013, 10 years ago, to an email that said in all-caps “CLENT RICHARDSON” to read that he had passed away from cancer at the age of 52 leaving his wife and two young children. He’d returned to Portland back in 2011 because he knew what was happening and took those board seats as a way to stay focused on something else. He never once mentioned it to me that whole time in those one-on-one meetings. He was always constantly there for me and selflessly gave his all for us.

I’ll never forget what Clent did for me and it is his selflessness that has helped model how I try to help the companies that I advise to this day. I thank my lucky stars for my health every day and always make sure to give thanks to Clent this time of year.

RIP Clent, you are missed.