Five C's in Success

PepsiCo’s new CEO Indra Nooyi stated her five Cs in Success : Competence, Confidence/Courage, Communication, Compass and Coaching.

They happen to be in alignment with my guiding principles that I am using to build my business. I’d like to share my practice with you and would love to hear what thoughts are triggered for you.

Competence

When we are extremely good at what we do, we are competent. How do we get extremely good at what we do? Learn and practice! There are many ways to get more skillful on what we do. Learning and applying what we learn will take our competency to the next level. I personally attend at least one week long workshop per year to provide myself a significant learning opportunity on coaching competencies.

Confidence and Courage

We can be very competent and at the same time not sure if we are good enough. Or we can be very competent and not have the courage to market ourselves. Confidence and courage are in the emotional intelligence domain. They can be strengthened using personal growth work. It takes intentional self growth work to see what’s in the way for us to be confident and courageous. It takes committed practice to move forward from where we are at. The key is to have the self-awareness to know where we are at. I have learned a lot about my emotions from an Emotional Intelligence Assessment. Since I benefited from the assessment, I got certified to give and debrief this particular assessment. I can assess my clients and support them in their growth of emotional intelligence. I believe personal growth is the key for business growth.

Communication

When we can express what we offer in a compelling way, we will get attention from our potential clients. One of the reasons that I host biznik workshops is to sharpen my communication skills. To be competent is one thing; to be able to communicate my knowledge and skill in plain language is a totally different beast. Effective communication skill is also based on confidence and social awareness.

Compass

Nooyi sees Compass be moral integrity. She said integrity gives us a purpose on striving for success and will leave a legacy for us when we pass. Integrity is a high value of mine and I find that is a shared value of successful business owners and leaders. Compass to me is also life purpose. Life purpose guides me even when I am lost.  When I coach my clients to discover their life purpose, we start with a list of values they honor. Life purpose based on values is very powerful. My Purpose statement hasn’t changed for years. It is – “to joyfully dance in harmony with the universe and passionately empower everyone to live the life they love."

Coaching

Mentors and coaches can play an important role in our personal and business growth. I have always had a coach or mentor since 2000. They are my  teachers, partners and cheer leaders. They can be dear friends, my boss, my peer, my family or a professional coach. They hold mirrors for me to reflect. They offer observation of me. They accept me and love me for whom I am. They hold me accountable to my commitment. I have had different mentors and coaches over the years based on my needs at the time. Every one of them played an important part in my life. They are also the reason that I am a professional coach now.

You might want to know .. "so, you practice 5C and how successful you are?"

My answer is that I reached all of my big goals in the last 5 years. I am happy at where I am and the work I am doing. Success is a relative term. My definition is simple - "I am satisfied with my life". Do I have more goals set? You bet!  Satisfaction needs sustainment :)

5 Cs is a tool that will enable us to focus and attain our goals and/or success. 5 Cs will help us on our journey, it is not a destination.