Vitamin C’s for achievement and leadership

We don’t at any point in time have it all, but we can learn how to live and lead to the best of our abilities with the resources at our disposal. Being a leader is a lonely journey oftentimes and we need some directives to help guide us in some form. I was asked to present to a bunch of business folk on capability and achieving goals and here’s a snapshot from my talk… 

I chose to speak about how my journey has been impacted by these and how I use them as sort of pillars of guidance and they all turned out to be C-Words, hence calling them the Vitamin C’s that you can turn to… 

Here’s the series ‘Power of C’ – words and what they entail in my context on the journey to sound leadership.

Capacity: 

What we need to start with is an open mind and build a capacity to work under variables of all kinds. Building a high-capacity persona is possible and you can make more out of the same 24-hour day that you have, if you design and work to make it happen. Understand your capacity, accept how much you can do and as you go through your tasks, start giving yourself lesser time for the same tasks and practice for better impact at every instance. 

Everything comes to us that belongs to us if we create the capacity to receive it.” – Rabindranath Tagore

Capability:

Each of us have our strengths and limitations and being aware of these and knowing what we are good at goes a long way. It’s also knowing what skills and competencies are and understanding that while capacity is the ability that exists in the present whereas capability is in context of a higher level of ability that could be demonstrated in relevant situations. The collective of ability, capability and capacity gives a view of personal competence. 

“If we did all the things, we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.” – Thomas A. Edison

Choice:

At every step of the way, we are presented with choices and the ability to make them and make them work for you. There are no pre-ordained choices where you can predict outcomes and when you make a choice there is no way to pre-empt if it’s a good or bad choice. It’s about owning it and doing what needs done once the choice is made. Always good to remember that we have a choice and only need to make it and make it right… 

“Life is a matter of choices, and every choice you make makes you.” —John C. Maxwell

Change:

The only permanent thing in our lives is change so resisting change can be a de-railer to the larger canvas of life. The choice we have in context of change, is to make the change become powerful for ourselves and embrace it in its many forms. Committing to change and what it brings with it with resilience and persistence to make things work can be the clincher when it comes to our leadership journeys.  

You can’t change what’s going on around you until you start changing what’s going on within you.” – Zig Ziglar

Conversations:

Communication is at the core of successful leadership and there must be transparency and openness to your communication. The way you articulate your thoughts and put them into action can define your approach as a leader. Conversations are key to this communication and often, they also tend to be tough yet imperative. Learning the nuances of sound communication can be impactful and can lead to better relationships both at work and outside. 

“Be brave enough to start a conversation that matters.” – – Margaret Wheatley

There were my few cents on the many C’s of leadership, and I have a few more up my sleeve for next week… We will look at conflict, commentary, confidence, courage and more in the next edition of Forward Leap… 

Conflict 

“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph.” – Thomas Paine

Commentary

“Everybody wants to have a commentary on my life, like they are actually living it. Cool, comment all you want but I’m the one that’s living it.” – Katy Perry

Confidence 

“Confidence isn’t walking into a room thinking you’re better than everyone, it’s walking in not having to compare yourself to anyone at all.” – Unknown

Courage

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain

Carpe Diem 

Seize the day. Make your lives extraordinary. Don’t do it for the world! Do it for yourselves!

Shreya Krishnan

Vice President - Marketing and Communications at Aon India Insurance Brokers

Shreya is a CSR Specialist and Corporate Grooming Consultant. Her interests lie in Activism, Dance, Theatre, Poetry, Blogging, Modelling, Acting. She considers herself an Earth Warrior and is an Event Anchor and Trainer. She is a Pageant Winner and public speaker.