CYLS 077: The Blueprint To The Vice President Suite in Corporate America with Chris Winton & Donald Comer
Summary: Donald & Chris give us their blueprint to making it to the Vice-President suite in one of America’s Fortune 100 companies. They detail their experience and the power that mentorship and self actualization has played in their successes. Insight from this episode: Chris changed his course from wanting to be CTO of Fedex to moving in Human Resources because HR aligned more with his passion Chris’s big indicator that he like human resources more as he noticed that his bookshelf changed from being IT focused to leadership focused and through conversation with friends and colleagues Donald has worked multiple careers in finance, marketing, auditing, IT and operations anaysis now doing decision science for FEDEx At 57 Donald is energized and in learning mode in his career. Things that keep him motivated are his humble upbringing and hanging around people that are smarter than he is. “I know that I always want to work, I always want to contribute and I always want to make an impact and leave a footprint” - Donald Comer Episode #77 “My motivation has always been to a be a contributor and to be able to gauge my impact on the bottom line of the corporation.” - Donald Comer Episode #77 It’s very important to surround yourself with cheerleaders, also attend conferences and be a member of organizations that energize you Chris started out as an IT intern and worked his way up. He spent his nights and weekends reading on the position and expertise for the job he wanted. He sought out mentors in the positions that he wanted. He then practiced posing in the mirror for the picture with the exact suit he was going to wear for 10 years. “I started posing in the picture with that in mind at age 22 and made managing director in IT at 32” - Chris Winton Episode #77 “You can never understand the power of a sponsor, somebody who is willing to lend some of their personal equity to get you to a place that you want to be or sometime not even a place that you know you want to be, but a place that they know you ought to be based on the demonstrated hard work, commitment and the genius that you bring to work everyday.” - Donald Comer Episode #77 “We often talk about having a mentor but what we all should aspire to is to earn a sponsor. You can request a mentor but you have to earn a sponsor.” - Donald Comer Episode #77 “The way you earn a sponsor is with great work not good work and most people confuse the difference between good work and great work. Good work you have to go sell yourself, great work, other people talk about it.” - Chris Winton Episode #77 “Earning a mentor who is in reality a sponsor is the greatest success that an individual can have in terms of moving their careers forward” - Donald Comer Episode #77 Chris acknowledged that he was excluding himself from high-level conversations because of internal dialogue and got out of his own way by studying the companies business and broadening his knowledge base. Chris had a huge breakthrough when he stopped thinking of himself as his educational background. “When you add something of value that drives revenue, it doesn’t matter what color you are everybody is listening” - Chris Winton Episode #77 Chris does the following to perform at his best: Meditates daily Always smiles Always starts his day with music, listens to his music after a tough meeting, finishes his day with music as well. Challenging days or situations he listens to Eminem 8 mile Jazz music relax’s him The music is important to keep the smile. Donalds's 3 keys to Create Your Best Life: Have a plan work the plan Find as many cheerleaders as you can to help you along the way Chris's 3 keys to Create Your Best Life: Find your purpose know your purpose connect your purpose to solving someone elses problem Keep your motives pure Kevin: www.kevinybrown.com www.instagram.com/kevinybrown www.twitter.com/kevinybrown www.facebook.com/kevbrown001 Donald: https://www.instagram.com/donaldcomer/ https://www.facebook.com/donald.comer.5 Chris: https://www.facebook.com/chris.winton.7545 Subscribe to our podcast + download each episode on itunes, google play, stitcher and www.createyourlifeseries.com/podcast
