C-4 Leadership: Ignite Your Career. Shatter Expectations. Take Charge of Your Life.

By Chris Winton

Take Charge of Life and Shatter Expectations! 

Leadership expert and coach Chris Winton shares the exact strategies that empowered him to navigate the corporate ladder and gain a seat at the leadership table of one of the most well-known and respected organizations in the world. 

Now he shares his explosive

• Language: English
• Publisher: StoryBuilders, LLC
• Release date: Mar 10, 2020
• ISBN: 9781734117424

Chris Winton

Chris Winton has risen from intern to IT Director to VP of Human Resources at a Fortune 50 company (FedEx). Named "Top 40 under 40" in the Memphis Business Journal, Chris consults with top organizations like Google and The White House and is certified in culture-shaping and human relations. A Christian, mentor, coach, speaker, and successful real estate investor, Chris lives in Memphis, TN with his wife and two children. Discover more at ChrisWinton.com.

Book preview

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What a terrific read! C-4 is chock-full of insights on how to ignite your career. Winton nails it!

—Rob Carter,

Executive Vice President & Chief Information Officer, FedEx Corporation

Chris Winton is a masterful storyteller who knows how to capture the readers’ attention with sensational real life experiences and an amazing framework that can assist and propel you in your life. This is a must read if you want to continue to charter the course for your career and grow as a leader, mom, dad, brother, sister, or individual. The stories are so vivid, which allows you to continue to reflect on your own personal journey. A must read!

—Cisco Sanchez,

IT Senior Vice-President & Chief Information Officer, FedEx Ground

I’ve read a plethora of personal growth books over the years. However, the practical insights, learnings and wisdom that Chris Winton expounds in this book is game changing. I call it Winsdom (Winton Wisdom).

—Thanh Anderson,

Vice-President, Human Resources, FedEx Logistics

I watched Chris transform mindsets as we worked together on the local workforce board. He is fully committed to connecting people with possibilities in the Memphis community. This C-4 Approach provides a framework that is scalable to any community.

—Kevin Woods,

Memphis Market President, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee & Shelby County Schools Board Member

Chris ignites excitement and creates opportunities of hope in people where they can realize their potential. He did it for me and I’m excited to see him put it into a book for others to use.

—Dr. Mario Brown,

Chief Talent Development Officer, First Horizon Bank

The 4 Cs individually are simple words used as part of the everyday leadership vernacular landscape. However, C-4 strategically threaded through everyday interactions with your team is powerful and impactful. Through purposeful application of the C-4 Approach, I have watched my team go from an effective group of team members, to a highly successful and admired team of professionals leading their peers and business partner to the highest levels of interconnectedness and achievement. I have also used the C-4 framework in my personal life where I find that my family listens and communicates better, is more connected and closer than ever before. I am a true believer of this wonderful method!

—Alyssa Molina,

Director, Human Resources

Chris has an electric energy that is contagious and ignites focus and movement. His C-4 methodology transcends beyond professional platforms and can easily influence personal experiences.

—Tracee Walls,

Diversity & Inclusion Manager

"In C-4 Leadership, Chris challenges our fortitude, discretion and hearts in ways we don’t naturally succumb to as leaders. He inspires, exhorts and dares us to find our measured calling of service, accountability and personal growth. This book is a strong witness to the amazing and improbable outcomes that occur when we tie our beliefs and experiences to our highest ideals – we can reach for and attain the seemingly impossible. Winton is real, engaging, and impactful. His C-4 Approach is explosive in the best of ways!"

—Tony Sharp

The C-4 Approach lets Chris Winton transfer his unique success to others. Buckle your seatbelt, because you are in for one of the greatest rides of your life!

Anthony M. Flynn

Founder & CEO of AmazingCEO.com

C-4 Leadership: Ignite Your Career. Shatter Expectations. Take Charge of Your Life.

Copyright © 2020 by Chris Winton

No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the 1976 Copyright Act or in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission should be addressed to [e-mail].

Published by StoryBuilders Press

ISBN: 978-1-7341174-2-4

First edition.

I dedicate this book to the three people who keep me lifted everyday, my wife Coleshia and my two kids, Jordyn and Jaden.

Contents

Chapter 1: Your Glass Ceiling

Chapter 2: Why C-4?

Chapter 3: Where Are You Going?

Chapter 4: What’s Holding You Back?

C-1: CONSUME

Chapter 5: Think Like a Shareholder

Chapter 6: Your Leadership Craft

C-2: CONNECT

Chapter 7: You See Dots, I See Connection

Chapter 8: People & Possibilities

C-3: COMMUNICATE

Chapter 9: Leaders Love Stories

Chapter 10: Get in the Story Zone—and Stay There

C-4: COACH

Chapter 11: The Vital Link

Chapter 12: The Journey Is the Reward

Chapter 13: If I Only Knew Then, What I Know Now

About the Author

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1

Your Glass Ceiling

How the hell did you do that?

That’s the question I’m most often asked when people hear my story.

My story probably started out pretty normal. I grew up as an African-American kid in inner-city Memphis. Although I aced elementary school, I was a C-student in high school because I was juggling two jobs to help make ends meet.

When I got my first Information Systems (IT) job after college, I had a chip on my shoulder that was so big, I’m surprised it—and my head—fit through the door. Worse, I thought I deserved a leadership position.

When my first boss asked me what I wanted to accomplish I told him I wanted his job. I wanted to be the boss and tell people what to do.

If my attitude—and my thinking about leadership—hadn’t changed, I would never have gotten to where I am today.

Fast forward to today: I became a Vice President of Human Resources at FedEx at age 39. I’m routinely asked to speak to tech companies like Google and The White House about hiring processes and leadership development. But I truly realized how far I’d come, and how much I had changed when I was first invited to sit at the table with FedEx founder and Chairman, Fred Smith.

When he first walked into the room, my heart started pounding. He sat down and shuffled some papers, before looking off in the distance as if thinking deeply about something. I shifted awkwardly, hoping no one could sense how much I felt like an imposter in that moment.

Then Fred stood, walked around the table to me, and stuck out his hand: Hi, I’m Fred Smith. I grasped his hand and replied, Chris Winton, VP of Human Resources.

He smiled and said the words I’ll never forget: I know. Welcome Chris, I’m glad you’re here.

In that moment, I realized I had come a long way—from C-student to C-suite.

How the hell did I do that? I’m glad you asked.

The QBQ

One thing I’ve learned on the journey is that often the question we do ask isn’t the question we really want to ask. John G. Miller wrote about this reality in his book QBQ! The Question Behind the Question. As he noted, we may test the waters with the first question, before asking what we really want to ask.

So, if I may be so bold, when people ask me How the hell did you do that? What they really want to know, the QBQ, is this: How can I do that?

If you’re wondering the same thing, stick around. Maybe you picked up this book because you’re just getting started as a leader and want to ignite your career success (instead of watching it go up in flames). Maybe you’re already leading in middle management, but you’ve got your sights set on the C-suite. And you’re wondering how to crack the promotion code.

Perhaps you’re great at what you do in the corporate space, but—for reasons you can’t quite explain—you’ve stalled where you are. Or maybe you’re like me and you’ve spent your entire career on a certain track, but lately you’ve been thinking of making a change.

It doesn’t matter where you are positionally, most people in the corporate business world want similar things: move up the corporate ladder, be entrusted with greater responsibility, expand influence and prestige, make more money—and still enjoy life.

But a lot of people struggle to climb that corporate success ladder. It’s not an easy climb and, even if you can see it, it can look blocked for you.

I get it. I’ve been there.

I’ve stood at the bottom and looked up with that same mix of confusion, envy, and frustration. I understand what it’s like to feel:

➤Stuck —You know where you want to go, but you can’t see how to get there. You feel mired down in your day-to-day crises and tedious tasks. You can’t make any progress toward your career goals.

➤Overlooked —You want to get noticed, but you feel invisible. You may have started bright-eyed and head-up, but now you feel ignored and beaten down. You feel like nothing you do really matters, so why do anything more than the minimum?

➤Unappreciated —You started out ready to take on the world and tackle any project, no matter how big, but your efforts yielded little praise or financial reward. So now you figure, Why bother?

➤Discriminated Against —Maybe, like me, you’re a minority or someone who doesn’t quite look or act like everyone else. There’s a network that you aren’t part of so you feel like you’re on the outside looking in, and the deck is stacked against you.

➤Entitled —Maybe you have a big chip on your shoulder and you’re just daring someone to knock it off. You know you’re better than they are and don’t understand why your bosses can’t see it, too.

With all of these feelings, and many others, the question behind the question is this: How can you break through the glass ceiling to achieve the success you’ve always dreamed of?

You may think you are being held back because of who you are. But are you really? For example, maybe you think it’s because you...

➤Come from the wrong neighborhood. (I’m from inner-city Memphis, remember. With that logic, I shouldn’t be here.)

➤Didn’t make straight As. (Me neither. Join the club.)

➤Hated to read. (I didn’t read my first book until I was 26—yes, you read that right.)

➤Weren’t born to privilege. (I’m the son of two amazing blue-collar parents who often worked two or even three jobs.)

➤[Fill in your own unique excuses here.]

But do those factors really create a glass ceiling for you? Here’s a counterintuitive thought: what if your glass ceiling isn’t really made of glass? In fact, what if it’s merely something you’ve created that can be easily shattered with the right tools and know-how?

Hmmm. Maybe it’s time to look differently at what’s holding you back.

On my journey to success, I’ve learned that none of these things have to hold you back. In fact, from my experience coaching people from diverse backgrounds, the glass ceiling concept isn’t limited to people of color, women, or people with differences. People in every demographic group complain equally about it. It’s an equal-opportunity dis-abler.

Everyone seems tempted to think that there is a unique glass ceiling designed to keep him or her down. But I’ve found that there’s also a commonality amongst those who’ve broken through and now lead from the other side.

He Ain’t Heavy

When I was in high school I worked two jobs. That was why I was a C-student. I didn’t have time to study. In my senior year, I had a work permit to leave school early each day. But one day, a guidance counselor stopped me in the hallway and invited me to attend a presentation from an organization called INROADS.

This group focused on identifying top minority talent (I guess they hadn’t seen my grades) and giving that talent an early start in corporate leadership training. I agreed to go and hear more of what it was about, but it didn’t take long to hear a problem: I needed a 3.0 minimum GPA.

I knew I didn’t have that, so I got up to walk out. My counselor stopped me just outside the door and told me they wanted to talk to me anyway. Apparently, she had told them I was already a supervisor at my job. The fact that I was already in a leadership role while in high school intrigued them enough to take a chance on me.

So, a few days later I went to the Memphis chapter of INROADS and met a man named Alfonzo Alexander. He was built like a linebacker in football with the voice of Morpheus in the Matrix. This man would become my very first mentor and, ultimately, a dear friend.

One day, he called me into his office to get some background info on me. His first question: So what do you want to be ten years from now?

With all the teenage arrogance I could muster, I said, I want to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. (Truth be told, I wasn’t exactly sure what that was.)

Alfonzo looked at me across his desk and simply said, CEO, huh?

With unwavering confidence, I spelled it out for him, C-E-O.

He stared at me for a minute, tapping his fingers on the well-worn desk. Finally, he said, I tell you what, he turned toward a picture hanging on the wall, Look at this picture and tell me what you see. I looked and saw what I would later learn was a picture by the artist Gilbert Young titled He Ain’t Heavy. In it, a muscular black man is leaning