Rising Stars: Meet Chester Elton

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chester Elton.

Hi Chester, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, how can you bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I’m happy to be here and share my story with your readers. I was fortunate to grow up in a loving family. My parents were married for 65 years and showed me what true love and commitment look like. They also taught me to work hard, compete fairly, and enjoy the journey. They instilled a sense of gratitude and appreciation for different cultures and people. They were my first mentors, managers, and cheerleaders.

I worked to pay my way through college by selling books door to door, which was the best sales training ever. I graduated from BYU with a degree in Advertising and media sales and pursued a career in TV advertising in Detroit, NYC, Hartford, CT, and NYC again. Then I switched gears and joined a recognition company in Utah, where I sold employee recognition programs. That’s where I met Adrian Gostick, and we discovered our passion for writing and speaking about workplace culture, leadership, and teams, all with the common thread of gratitude. We founded The Culture Works, where we write, teach, coach, and speak on creating an All-In Culture where people feel engaged, enabled, energized, and celebrated. We have been working together for over 20 years, writing 14 books that have sold over 1.5 million copies and have been translated into 30 languages.

It wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The journey has been anything but smooth! We faced many challenges and uncertainties along the way. Our partnership started in a larger organization led by Kent Murdock, a remarkable visionary. He gave us the freedom and support to be creative, write, speak, and teach. That’s where we wrote our first seven books and developed the Carrot brand of recognition and gratitude. After Kent retired, the new leadership had a different vision, and we no longer fit. We had to strike out on our own for the first time. Those first years were tough.

We also had some setbacks when we started a training company that struggled for a while. We brought in new partners who didn’t share our values or goals. We invested our time and money into the company and took nothing from it. We eventually parted ways with them. That was very hard.

Now we have a great practice of writing, teaching, coaching, and speaking that we love doing every day with amazing people who share our vision.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
We are best known for our books and speaking engagements on workplace culture and leadership. Our latest books are All In on Culture, Leading With Gratitude on Leadership, and Anxiety at Work on Mental Health. We have had five NY Times best-sellers and several WSJ best-sellers.

We also have a very robust executive coaching business where we help leaders improve their work and personal lives. Thinkers 50 named us among the top 50 coaches in the world.

Lastly, we have a consulting business where we develop programs to enhance culture, develop future leaders, and create a leader’s library for ongoing development.

Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Being curious about people and business is vital to finding mentors and networking opportunities. That’s how I connected with Marshall Goldsmith and joined the 100 Coaches organization. It has been life-changing for me. I also think it’s important to build great relationships wherever you work. You can learn a lot from other people’s experiences and perspectives. I suggest getting to know interesting people and seeing what you can learn from them.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.thecultureworks.com
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chesterelton/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCK77lFrQJv8ql7t2yrwonA
• Other: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/anxiety-at-work-reduce-stress-cope-with-uncertainty/id1549312484