The Own Your IT Method
I sold fishing licenses for $7.50 an hour. Eighteen years later I was leading 1.3 million people at Walmart. This is the framework behind that climb, built with Randall Thames, the executive coach who was in the room for it. Not the luck. The method.
The Real Problem
You jumped into your career years ago and you’ve been grinding ever since. From the outside, it looks like progress. The title. The paycheck. The people who think you’ve got it figured out.
But on the inside, you know something’s off.
You’ve been copying the pattern of whoever seems further ahead, and it’s starting to feel like someone else’s life.
You work hard. You just aren’t sure you’re working on the right thing anymore, and you can’t tell the difference.
The job that used to feel like a calling now feels like going through the motions.
You’ve hit a ceiling that more effort doesn’t seem to move.
You haven’t failed. You’ve just been building on a blueprint that was never yours.
The Cost of Waiting
Right now you can feel it. The itch. The burn. That quiet “I want more” that shows up on the drive home.
Here’s the hard truth. Most people sit on that feeling for a year or two. They tell themselves they’ll get serious next quarter. Then next quarter turns into next year, and the urgency fades back into routine.
Meanwhile, you’re in your highest earning years. Every year spent performing is a year you don’t get back. And the fear underneath it all gets louder:
What if I’ve already peaked, and this is as good as it gets?
The window is real. So is the way through it.
The Missing Piece
You’ve already put in real effort. Here’s what turns it into lasting progress.
Productivity books They help you do more, faster. That pays off most when you’re sure you’re working on the right thing for you.
Motivational content It fires you up on Monday. A simple system keeps that energy working for you through the weekend.
Leadership training It gives teams a strong shared foundation. The next step is connecting it to what’s specific about who you are.
Working harder Effort got you here. Pointing it in the right direction is what takes you past a ceiling that was never yours.
Great keynotes They open minds and spark ideas. A framework built on real teams, under real pressure, turns that spark into daily habits.
The missing piece is simple: an honest read on what you’re built for, a repeatable rhythm to act on it, and a framework proven on real teams.
Where This Came From
Cedric Clark started in sporting goods, wearing a brown vest and selling fishing licenses for $7.50 an hour. Over 23 years he climbed to EVP of Store Operations at Walmart US, stewarding the hearts and minds of 1.3 to 1.4 million associates.
Along the way he stayed a classically trained pianist, playing since age four and performing with the Seattle Symphony at Benaroya Hall, and a former Division I athlete. Discipline was never a theory for him.
Randall Thames spent almost 30 years in HR and executive coaching, including coaching EVP and CEO level leaders through Korn Ferry. One of those leaders was Cedric. Today Randall leads the InSpirit Institute, and he’s an ICF-certified coach, credentialed by the International Coaching Federation.
Randall coached Cedric through the hardest parts of the climb. Now they’ve written the system down together, so you don’t have to figure it out alone.
One of us ran Store Operations for the largest retailer in the world. The other one coached him through it.
The Equation
Internal Talent × Intentional Time
=
The IT Factor
Notice it’s multiplication, not addition. If your talent is strong but your time is scattered, the result stays small. If you’re disciplined but working against your gift, same thing. When both line up, the results compound.
That’s the whole method. The rest is how you do it.
Want It · Work It · Win It
Clarity and commitment.
Stop performing and get honest about what you’re actually built for. Want It is where you name your ceiling, find your gift, and decide it’s worth committing to. No more borrowed goals.
Which means: you stop chasing someone else’s blueprint and start working from strength.
“Don’t bring your feelings to a fact fight.”
The discipline that builds you.
This is The IT Factory. Showing up. Practicing. Building a daily rhythm that turns your gift into results, especially when no one’s watching. Reps, not rallies, every single day.
Which means: your progress stops depending on motivation. It runs on rhythm, and that rhythm compounds over time.
“Show up when no one’s watching. That’s where it’s built.”
The impact that lasts.
Success gets redefined as alignment and service. Winning isn’t a trophy for yourself. It’s using your gift to make things better for the people around you, and passing the rhythm on to someone else.
Which means: you stop proving something to somebody and start building a legacy that outlasts any single win.
“Make your ceiling of yesterday your floor of tomorrow.”
The Four Blocks
Almost everyone who feels stuck is dealing with one of four blocks. Knowing which one is yours changes where you start.
The Free Self-Assessment is built straight from these Four Blocks in the book. Answer a few short questions and you’ll see which block is yours, plus a personalized read on where to start.
Take the Free AssessmentYou’re working hard, but you can’t say exactly what you’re working toward. Or why. Every opportunity looks the same, so you say yes to all of them.
You start strong, then run out of gas. Big pushes, then long stalls. You’re tired, and it’s not from doing too little.
On paper, you’ve made it. In real life, it feels like performing. The success is there. It just doesn’t feel like yours.
You know what you want to try. You just haven’t, because what if it doesn’t work? So you stay where it’s safe, and safe starts to feel small.
The A Leadership Cycle
Clarity without action is just a nice idea. The A Leadership Cycle is how you turn what you learned in Want It into something you do every week in Work It.
It starts with the truth about where you are, and it ends with a result you can point to. Then it starts again, one level higher. That’s how yesterday’s ceiling becomes tomorrow’s floor.
The V.O.I.C.E. Checklist
Once you’re clear and consistent, the opportunities start coming. The new role. The side project. The ask you’re not sure about. Saying yes to everything will pull you right back into performing.
V.O.I.C.E. is a simple five-point checklist you run before any big decision. It comes from Randall’s decades of coaching senior leaders: start with one word you’ll remember, then break it down so you can actually use it in the moment.
Which means: you stop guessing, and your yeses start lining up with who you actually are.
Why Coaching Works
Before they were co-authors, Randall was Cedric’s coach. So when we say coaching works, it’s not a theory. It’s what happened on the way to the C-suite. It comes down to three things.
You can’t read the label from inside the jar. A good coach sees what you’re too close to see.
Someone expects you to show up, so you do. Even on the days you don’t feel like it.
Your gift, your time, and your goals finally point in the same direction.
This is the foundation of the Own Your IT coaching model. Join the Coaching Interest List to hear about it first when it opens.
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Proof
It’s been used on a Fortune 1 sales floor, in the boardroom, and in coaching sessions with CEO level leaders. It’s practical from page one, whether you’re on the front line or leading the company.
“I have worked with Cedric and Randall and know them to be outstanding leaders who share a passion for helping people improve. Their book is a terrific resource for re-thinking our patterns and assumptions and increasing our appreciation for learning and doing.”
“Cedric and Randall offer practical lessons and real-life examples that clearly demonstrate what is required for continuous growth. By thoughtfully sharing your own experiences, you illuminate the dedication, support, and intentionality needed to foster meaningful growth in ourselves and in the lives of those we encounter. Whether in faith, family, work, or recreation, this clearly explains that genuine success is found in our willingness to continually learn, improve, and encourage others. Thank you for taking the time to thoughtfully share how we can become all we were created to be.”
“Own Your IT captures a truth every retail leader eventually learns: that the associates closest to the customer are often the ones with the most leadership already in them, just waiting to be developed. Cedric’s own rise from an entry-level job to leading operations for more than a million people is exactly the kind of story that should be required reading inside any organization. This book gives leaders a practical way to invest in that talent instead of just hoping it surfaces on its own.”
“I’ve spent years telling people to ‘Be a coffee bean.’ Encouraging others to change the room instead of letting the room change you. Own Your IT is the operator’s manual for how to do that. Cedric and Randall don’t just tell you to transform, they hand you the framework to make it stick. This book is pure coffee bean energy from cover to cover.”
“Own Your IT offers a refreshing perspective that teaches that lasting success comes from discovering your God-given potential, developing it through disciplined action, and multiplying its impact through leadership and service to others. I appreciate the emphasis on success being measured by how a leader impacts others and investments in those relationships. The book also details the necessity for developing a cadence for leadership with the introduction of the “UP Leadership Model” which is unlike any other model that I have seen. This book is a must read for anyone who desires to better understand why fulfillment goes beyond titles, compensation, and achievement alone. There is true value in living and leading in alignment with your values.”
“Own Your IT highlights the single most important statement that impacts my current position: don’t bring feelings to a fact fight. I’m able to disarm and win the argument without emotion by sticking to the facts.”
“Own Your IT reinforces something I have seen throughout my career: talent matters, but what we do with it matters more. Cedric and Randall offer readers a practical way to think about their strengths and the work required to develop them.”
For Teams and Organizations
Own Your IT is a book, a framework, and a common language your people can keep using long after the offsite ends. If you’re in HR, L&D, athletics, or education, bring Cedric and Randall to your stage.
Bring Cedric and Randall to Your StageFAQ
Got any questions?
Let us know! Reach out and our team will get right back to you.
Contact UsNo. Productivity systems help you do more. Own Your IT helps you figure out what’s worth doing in the first place, then build the rhythm to do it. More output on the wrong thing isn’t the goal.
Yes. Cedric’s story happened at Walmart, but the framework is about your gift and your time. It works whether you’re managing a team, coaching athletes, running a business, or pushing carts and thinking about what’s next.
Because “stuck despite success” is one of the Four Blocks for a reason. Plenty of people hit their goals and still feel like they’re performing. This is for them too.
Our faith is part of why we do this work, and it’s in the background. The method itself is practical and works for anyone.
The book lays out the whole method. The Free Self-Assessment shows you which block to work on first. Coaching, launching soon, is where you work through it with support and accountability.
With the assessment. It’s free, it’s quick, and it tells you exactly which part of the method matters most for you right now.
Your Next Move
You don’t need another year of performing. You need an honest look at what you’re built for, and a rhythm to act on it.
Take the free assessment and discover where you’re strongest across the Four Blocks, in about 5 minutes. You’ll get a personalized read on where to begin and a free chapter from the book matched to your result.
Take the Free Assessment