Seeing as how she’s currently the head of the fourth largest food/beverage companies in the world, I figured we ought to take notice, but I found something missing in the article. While the 5 C’s are extremely sound, I thought we could all use some extra information: how to develop these attributes in ourselves. So here they are, with suggestions on personal improvement.

1. Competence

“I think you can’t move up in any job or in life unless you are damn good at something. You have to have a hip-pocket skill. [If] you forget that skill, your utility goes down in a company because people don’t know what to come to you for because you are not current in anything.”

Where to find competence:

• Stick to your tasks. It’s said that it takes 7 years to become truly proficient at most jobs.
• Training. Jump at the chance to go to conferences or training.

2. Courage (and Confidence)

“You can be very good at something, but if you are not willing to break some china in speaking up when you think something is not being done right, what is the value of having all that competency?”

Where to find Courage and Confidence:

• Take on tasks that challenge you. No one gains courage from their comfort zone.
• Make a list of things that shake your confidence and pledge to tackle at least 3 this year

3. Communication

“You might be willing to have the courage and have the confidence, but if you can’t communicate what you are going to do in a compelling way, that is a wasted thing.

How to grow in your communication skills:

• Focus on your interpersonal relationships- each one thrives from great communication. The more deep relationships you have, the more refined your skills will become.
• Read, read, read. Reading refines our introspective abilities, as well as deepens our vocabularies.

4. Compass

“You can have everything, but if you don’t have moral integrity it is all for naught.”

Where to find your compass:

• Wisdom books. Whether religious texts, philosophy or even books of great quotations, any book that you feel speaks to your quest for wisdom will provide you a moral compass when tough decisions need to be made.
• Family. For some, staying in touch with their roots grounds them and provides them with direction.
• Spirituality in any form. Many people find their compass through pursuing spirituality; if this interest you, then find a source that inspires you and dig deep.

5. Coaching

“Mentors have always played a role in my life. Mentors find you. You don’t find them. A mentor has picked you because you have the competence, the courage and confidence, you are a great communicator and you have a moral compass. They say, ‘I want to hitch my horse to yours because I think you are going to go places and you will take me with you. Not because I need it but because I like the ride.’ ”

How to get a mentor:

• You don’t have to wait for a mentor to find you, and they don’t have to come from a usual source. Be motivated to ask and be creative.
• Great sources for mentors would your place of business, volunteer organizations, schools or colleges, athletic organizations or spiritual institutions.
• Most of the time the people in your life who provide you with wisdom and direction would be happy to meet for coffee, as long as you respect their time.

So, why do so many people try so hard to manage themselves and still fall short? Most people want to perform. They want to accomplish great things, but never seem to catch up on everything they are given to do in the course of a day. How many times have you said to yourself, “it’s five o’clock and my to-do list is bigger than it was when I got here at eight?”

For most of us, it’s a matter of overhauling our personal performance management systems, and finding a way to avoid the following five traps that so often trip us up:

Failure to see the big picture

Your performance management system should have a reason behind it. If you’re reading this, chances are that your current system, if you have one, isn’t working to some degree, and this is the most common reason. Instead of just jumping into your mountain of tasks, stop first and ask yourself”why am I doing all of these things?”

There must be a reason why you work. The answer for you may be (more…)

Smart
companies have learned how to adapt to the changing business landscape.
David H. Freedman of Inc. magazine identified the "spin-up" trend in
early 2005 when Apple launched the iPod and handed that company its
first runaway hit in years. And we’re likely to see history repeat
itself with the launch of the iPhone later this month. The basic idea
is simple: Instead of thinking in terms of expanding the company as a
whole, Apple has focused on new, fast-growth, "spin-up" business units
with their own identities - even if it meant letting other parts of the
company languish.
                  
Hewlett-Packard’s
photo-printer business likewise exploded, and the same approach works
in other industries too. Savvy restaurateurs create entirely new
concepts and occasionally even close or reinvent existing ones when
their cachet fades. Smart fashion and sporting goods firms whip up new
independent brands to "surf the fad of the moment". According to
Freedman, the "trickiest part of the spin-up is to have the flexibility
to bring a promising new aspect of a business quickly to the fore
without worrying about what gets left behind." Unlike traditional
businesses that tend to be so fixated on preserving the same core
business that potentially hot new markets are poorly served (if at
all), a "spin-up creates a new brand identity". This way of thinking
about a company encourages you to see the business not as a seamless
whole but as a "fractured conglomeration" of potentially independent
units.

It’s important to take a high-level look at your
market when you need a complete picture of your company. Consider these
steps:

1. List the three to five main markets you compete in. Also list one or two that are new potential markets.
2. For each market, determine if it is growing, shrinking, or staying the same.
3. Determine the size of each market.
4. Determine if serving the market presents an opportunity or if the market is not worth focusing on.
5. Summarize the markets you want to focus on in your opportunities section of your SWOT.

Think about your favorite Olympic athlete. Do you think the
athlete’s goal is foremost on her mind every day? You
bet it is. That’s why it’s your job and your manager’s
job to act as a coach to get Olympic-level performances out
of all your people. In addition to focusing on the goal, Olympic
athletes are incredibly disciplined. Executing goals that were
set months ago is no different. It requires that same level
of commitment and discipline.

This is where you and your managers need to lead rather than
fight fires and do detail work. By acting as a coach, use the
plan as your framework to guide your team to high performance.
What do coaches do?

Encourage: Everyone needs to feel like they’re
doing a good job and are appreciated for their hard work. Coaches
say encouraging words to their team to keep them motivated and
engaged.

Support: Without the right skills and resources
for the job, no amount of prodding and pushing will get it done.
Coaches support their teams by making sure they have the training,
knowledge, and ability to complete the task.

Yell at the right time: Just like athletic
coaches know when to yell, managers need to know when to “push”
their team when they need it. A good coach knows when performance
is lagging and when to turn on the pressure.

Bring out the best: Seeing the strengths and
weaknesses of your team allows you to bring out the best in
your staff. Coaches know how to make you the best you can be.

Monitor performance: Keeping track of how
everyone is performing is another trait of a good coach. With
the goals you set, you can assist your employee in creating
an action plan if it isn’t already established and keep
them on the path toward achieving it. Meet with the employee
regularly to discuss the status of goal accomplishment. Coach
your team when there are setbacks or roadblocks and recognize
and reward employees for achievements.

Engage all your employees. Don’t leave anyone out of the planning process because in a smaller organization you run the risk of alienating some people. Although you may not think it’s appropriate to include everyone on staff, how will it look if everyone but two or three members aren’t included? Find ways to engage everyone in the process.

Recognize your constraints. As the owner, you probably have grand ideas and big plans. But remember not to overwhelm your staff by thinking too big or grandiose. Recognize your constraints and create a realistic strategic plan.

Have a clear vision. Being crystal clear about what the owners want to achieve is critical to the success of any privately-held business. Do you want to grow or stay small? If you want to grow, by how much (see the preceding valuation discussion)? What future do you want to create for your business? It’s really important for you to be clear about your owner’s vision. Because if you’re fuzzy on your vision, it will never materialize.

Just do it! I know this slogan can be overused, but it fits perfectly here. It seems like setting aside time for planning in smaller organizations is hard because you don’t have a person who can dedicate their time to strategic planning. Take the time to make strategy part of your culture. After the effects of executing your strategic plan are felt, you’ll realize that you didn’t have time not to do it. I promise!

• A belief that employees are dangerous and lazy. If you treat people as if they’re worthless long enough, eventually they’ll either believe you (and behave accordingly) or they’ll spend all their energy trying to build a paper case that you’re wrong. Either way, your customers (and you) lose.
• A conviction that customers cannot be trusted. Managers at unhappy companies foster an environment in which customers are kept at arms’ length from everyone except the sales department. Needless to say, customers usually reciprocate this lack of trust and never share the needs and frustrations that might lead to new products — and new partnerships.
• A focus on policies, not principles. Although individual employees often recognize the damage that these rules have on loyalty and customer value, the lack of clear principles — that employee satisfaction matters, that creation of customer value is how we grow the business — means that the system stays in place until it’s tipped over by a more-principled competitor.
• An obsession with today, not tomorrow. Unhappy companies squeeze the same products and processes like stones for next quarter’s profit — and then wonder why it all seems that much harder the next quarter, and the quarter after that.
• Leadership in all the wrong places. Unhappy companies have leaders who make grand promises for revenues but never meet with customers; make grand demands for efficiency but never commit dollars to execution; and make grand noises about change but never do more than reshuffle the deck chairs.

Are you at an unhappy company? Do any of these sound familiar?

Modified thoughts from John R. Brandt

Both of these questions are answered by the example of Herb Kelleher.  When Herb Kelleher, a previous CEO of Southwest Airlines, decided to move-on from his position of great power, he did something highly unordinary that shook the company in astonishment.  Mr. Kelleher chose not one, but two successors.  This untraditional way of passing leadership confused many in the company.  Power, or “the conch,” can be a difficult thing for leaders to share.  “Everyone believes that corporate success hinges on the abilities of a single exceptional leader.  Does it have to be that way? Maybe not.  Maybe over the next two decades, the Southwest succession plan will take hold and a different pattern will emerge”. 

This kind of paradigm shift is difficult to adjust to on both personal and organizational levels.  Since there is no common historical pattern to reference, it is almost always impossible to forecast the affects of this kind of change.  The bottom line is that an organization, and each person who independently helps to make up its structure, must chose to be dynamic and open-minded.  Trustworthy leadership is the foundation of enabling a dynamic organization.  The success that was achieved at Southwest under Mr. Kelleher’s leadership is exemplary of what kind of leadership can warrant such trust.

• Live with integrity and lead by example
• Develop a winning strategy or big idea
• Build a great management team
• Inspire employees to achieve greatness
• Organize for flexibility and responsiveness
• Implement consistent management systems. 

In order to become an effective manager and lead during uncertain times, one must follow a set of clear enduring principles which will provide a clear road map for finding success during turbulent times.

Source: Citrin, J. (2002).  Six Principles for Leading During Uncertain Times.

Source: Kouzes, J. and Posner, B. “Envisioning your Future: Imagining Ideal Scenarios”