“How Dr. Candace Steele Flippin Is Redefining Women’s Success at Work”

 In this episode of Career Coaching Secrets, host Kevin sits down with Dr. Candace Steele Flippin, founder of the Global Career Advancement Institute and author of Get Your Career in Shape. Dr. Flippin shares how her research on women’s career advancement evolved into a powerful certification program helping coaches elevate their clients’ professional self-efficacy — the belief that betting on yourself leads to success. They explore women’s displacement during COVID, the rise of flexible work, and how her SHAPE framework helps professionals build confidence, resilience, and meaningful careers they need, want, and deserve.


Connect with

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/candacesteeleflippin/
Website: https://www.globalcai.com/

Transcript

Candace Steele Flippin: 0:00

Well, I'll dissect it in three parts. The first part was women who were who were losing their jobs because of economic displacement. And it wasn't just women, obviously it was men too, but a lot of women lost their job during COVID. And then the other part was women typically have the lion's share of caregiving in households. So a lot of women stepped away to take care of their family, whether it was their immediate families in their household, like children, or parental family obligations during COVID.

Davis Nguyen : 0:32

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets, the podcast where we talk with successful career coaches on how they built their success and the hard lessons they learned along the way. My name is Davis Wynne, and I'm the founder of Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, and even $100,000 weeks. Before Purple Circle, I've grown several seven and eight-figure career coaching businesses myself and have been a consultant at two career coaching businesses that are doing over $100 million each. Whether you're an established coach or building your practice for the first time, you'll discover the secrets to elevating your coaching business.

Kevin: 1:03

Welcome to Career Coaching Secrets Podcast. I'm Kevin, and today we are joined by Dr. Candace Steele. Flipping no hyphen at all. She is the founder of Global Career Advancement Institute. Also the author of Get Your Career in Shape. Been a coach for over 10 plus years. Welcome to the show, Dr. Candace.

Candace Steele Flippin: 1:22

Thank you, Kevin. Excited to be able to share my thoughts today.

Kevin: 1:26

I'm excited to uh hear your story. And speaking about stories, I love hearing the origin stories, the lore. So let's start at the very beginning. How did you get into coaching and how did you end up turning it into a business?

Candace Steele Flippin: 1:39

It was actually serendipity. I learned when I started my doctoral studies that a lot of people, particularly women, never had mentors, which was certainly different than when I started my career. And as I continued to look at ways that younger generations, Gen Z, Millennial, and even my generation, Gen X, were advancing through their careers, a lot of them were doing it by themselves. And even those who had companies that had career development programs, oftentimes those programs were really focused on the individual self-managing their career. So I started looking at ways that people could accelerate their career advancement. And as I started down this journey, I went to one of my mentors and I wanted to focus on women because at that time the Academy of Management, which is academic society for management scholars, really hadn't focused on women in a while. And so I wanted to start there, particularly with Gen Z and millennial women. And in the beginning, she was favorable, but then one day she said, you know what? This is a waste of time. Women aren't advancing in their careers. And you know, generational research really is more like the zodiac, and there really aren't any any generational differences. And this was 2016, so almost 10 years ago. And I thought to myself, what? I just got my doctorate degree. I have been doing this research for a while. And so my feelings were hurt, Kevin. Really hurt. And I regrouped, I regrouped, I had to sa multiple times, and I just started with my training. So I did a number of studies just to see if people would even be interested in it. And I had a beta test of a small group of people where I started looking at different interventions and it was helpful. And at the time I was an executive at an organization, and this was something I was doing on the sides, and I'm air quoting here, and it just took off by wildfire. And so because I had that early voice in my head that this isn't relevant, I didn't really pursue it. It was all word of mouth. And as organizations would find my research, they would reach out to me. And then in 2020, I did a TEDx talk on what women really want at work. And I looked at things that women can do to increase our self-efficacy. That's just your belief that you can win. And I'll get back to that in a moment. And then we went into COVID. But I found myself in a really interesting spot. Unbeknownst to me, in 2017, when my first book came out, I was one of the first people to start documenting Gen Z workplace values. And when that TEDx talk came out in 2020, a lot of interesting things were happening with women. For for jobs. And there was so much excitement. And then by March of that year, when so many people went home or started to get displaced, the conversation shifted. All of a sudden, there was an alarm for what was happening with women in our careers, women in the workplace, so much displacement. And some scholars were saying women will never regain that ground. And this explosion happened where people started looking for researchers who connected those dots generationally and from women. And before I knew it, this business started to form around me. So then I had to work to transition out of my full-time role at the time to write my book and to launch a certification for other coaches to share my insights. So it was really me taking this amazing leap of faith and focused on helping people navigate success that I had been able to enjoy.

Kevin: 5:48

I'm kind of curious, what happened? So you're talking about that where there's like this huge displacement, and you're what happened? What were some of the causes for that?

Candace Steele Flippin: 5:58

Well, I'll dissect it in three parts. The first part was women who were who were losing their jobs because of economic displacement. And it wasn't just women, obviously, it was men too, but a lot of women lost their jobs during COVID. And then the other part was women typically have the lion's share of caregiving in households. So a lot of women stepped away to take care of their families, whether it was their immediate families in their household, like children, or parental family obligations during COVID. And so there was that huge exit from work that way. And then the third part was which is what we call kind of intrinsic internal. A lot of people's priorities shifted during COVID. As so many of us may have watched loved ones or close friends die because of um a complication related to COVID. People just started reassessing. And so we started to see this downshift of women leaving the workplace.

Kevin: 6:58

See. And what is it looking like present day, almost what, five years later?

Candace Steele Flippin: 7:02

Well, that's very interesting. So we are now seeing displacement for different reasons today. But coming out of COVID, there was, you know, we started to see people start to go back to work. And what really helped was the flexibility that came when people could work remote or work in a flexible way. You were no longer, at least women were reporting, they were no longer hindered. So they could manage taking care of their families or their lives in a remote or flexible work scheme. So we start to see that shift in major sectors where people are now having to go back into work. But now here we are in October of 2025, almost November. And once again, we're seeing wide economic displacement as companies look ahead to their business models and incorporating how AI is going to fit. So now we're seeing people displaced again. And so that will continue to shake out and you know, in the near term as companies and organizations look at how they're going to have a viable balance sheet and be profitable. So the coaches who are coming to me have been coached via a number of methodologies, which are great. But the part that they often may not have is the career part. So really great work helping you self-actualize, helping you prioritize. But are there ways that you can, are there ways and tools that you can help your client elevate their career status? And my Shape Career certification focuses on five areas that are both qualitatively and quantitatively valid and reliable to help. And so I can spend a minute talking about what those five elements are because what coaches have said to me is that first of all, they're easy for people to do, they're in their purview, and it complements their other modalities in which they've been trained. So what I did is I took the premise that I can't do anything about any type of ism, gender bias, all of those things. And so I was looking at what are things that you can do to increase your self-efficacy. So let's go back to that. Self-efficacy is just your belief that if you bet on yourself, you're gonna win. It's if you start a task, is there a likelihood that that outcome will be positive or favorable? And I'll give you some examples. Have you, Kevin, ever wanted to do anything? And you told someone, you may say, Candace, I want to do X. And then I say to you, not you, you could never do that. Remember that time when you tried Y and Z and W and it didn't work out? There's no way you're gonna do X. But then you go do it anyway.

Kevin: 9:45

Yeah.

Candace Steele Flippin: 9:45

Right. So that's an example of your self-efficacy being dialed up. There's something in your background, your mindset, your history, your support system, or whatever that says to you, even though Z and U didn't work out, X, you're gonna try X because there's a high likelihood that it's gonna work. That's your self-efficacy dialed up. Now, have you ever spoken to someone who's super talented and you've said, Candace, you are so talented. I think you should apply for the manager, director, VP role, or I think you should start your own business or whatever it is. And that person says, Oh, I looked at the job description and it's requiring five years experience. And I only have four years, 360 days, so close. And they won't do it for those, you'll say, Well, you should try it, Candace. And then Candace comes back and says, I just got this promotion three years ago. I feel like I need to do this job at least another one or two years before I'm really established, then I can get a promotion.

Kevin: 10:48

Yeah.

Candace Steele Flippin: 10:49

That's an example of someone's self-efficacy being dialed back. There's something in them that even though evidence around them shows that they're ready, they don't believe that if they do that effort or try that or take that risk, that it'll work out. So they self-limit, hold themselves back. And in my research, I found there are five things that if you address them, you have a higher likelihood of having high career self-advocacy, moving your career along. So, my background in industry was corporate communications and corporate marketing. So I gave it a nifty title, but I'll walk through with the components. So I call it getting your career in shape. The first one is really your financial situation. Having a strong financial foundation boosts your ability to believe and bet on yourself. So if you understand and have a savings plan, if you understand where your money goes, if you understand your relationship with money, then you'll be most likely to take a risk. Because, and I'll just use women for an example. A lot of women are the primary breadwinners in their households, professional women. And if they're not, they're a significant contributor to the household. Or if they're single, they may not have a safety net or they're the first in their families. And so if that new opportunity is going to jeopardize them financially, they won't take a risk. So the first thing you want to do is have a strong financial foundation or plan. Boost your self-advocacy. The next one I call hard work, but it's really about being aligned with the person you who evaluates you or influences the evaluation of your performance. Because most people will say, keep your head down, work hard, and you'll move ahead. The reality, Kevin, is that hard work is subjective. Just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, hard work and performance is in the eye of the person who is evaluating you. And so we talk about helping individuals get aligned, whether or not they have a great boss or not. The third aspect is advocacy, being able to use your voice effectively. And while some people are really good at navigating the sale or a deal, when it comes to navigating time, resources, and salary, they're not always as strong. So spending time helping people reinforce their ability to use their voice effectively. And that's so important because a lot of times people can burn themselves out by not be speaking up for time or resources or knowing how to negotiate well. And as it relates to salary, you can lose out on between $50 to one and a half million dollars of lifetime wealth accumulation just not just because you don't have good negotiation skills when it comes to salary. So it's super important. And from a statistical perspective, it was the most highly correlated aspect of my system. So just really having good negotiation skills, learning how to deal with office politics and all of those things can go a long way. And the fourth element, I call it persevere, but it's really having good coping mechanisms and support systems, particularly high performers and ambitious people. We tend to be the ones that everyone comes to for help. And so even when we try to be vulnerable and raise our hand for help, they'll say, So, Kevin, you come to me and you're like, Candace, I'm concerned about this and that. And they'll be like, Not Kevin, you've done X and Y and Z. Oh, you'll be fine. And then they'll turn around. Now let me tell you what's going on with me so you can help fix my problems. The other thing is there's like a lot of pressure on successful people to always be successful. And so sometimes it's hard to find the words to say that things aren't going well. And so we may adopt coping mechanisms that aren't maybe healthy for us physically or mentally. And then the other thing is there is this inherent optimism for people who are go-getters, right? It's all gonna work out, so you just keep working harder and harder. And maybe you're not getting rest, you're not taking time to reflect. So the other part of it is really having good coping mechanisms and skills and building support systems so that when those inevitable valleys come, you have people or systems or practices there to support you so that you can move through it. Because you can't avoid challenges, right? The key is having good skills to help you navigate them well. And then finally, the last one is I call it educate, but it has two parts. One is self-awareness. What do you know about yourself that is true that you can do something about and will do something about? Some people say it's like addressing your blind spots, which we all have. And then the other part of it is learning new things, being open to having a growth mindset because things move quickly and you don't always want to just rely on what you know. And the beautiful thing about this is it doesn't matter what you're learning, it's just that you're keeping yourself learning. So that if you're always learning something new, if a new opportunity comes, and they say, Well, Candace, today you're doing X. Tomorrow we want you to do Y. You have trained yourself to always be learning. So if something new comes your way, your self-efficacy won't be diminished because you're saying to yourself, you know what, change isn't bad. You know, I'm I'm used to learning, I'll just learn, I'll lean into my curiosity. And so what this program does is just helps coaches help their clients address each of these. And then there's a career planning tool that they can use and tools to help their clients navigate. And what we've seen now in this the last several years that we've been doing it is that it complements every other coaching modality that they do because it comes with all the materials, it comes with an easy system, and people enjoy it.

Kevin: 16:45

Thanks for that explanation of like your systeming stuff. Is it's really interesting. Now, I know that like, okay, you have this certification, right? And let's talk about the marketing aspect because you did mention earlier that you have a book, you wrote a book. What kind of marketing are you doing right now to kind of get the word out, I guess?

Candace Steele Flippin: 17:04

So great question. We built it um and had it validated. So it has the workbook, it has the assessment, it has all these tools that coaches can use depending on where their clients are. And we built it off of the ICF competencies. And we it's going through with the new competencies, we're now going through and having it accredited, accredited. And so the first group of coaches have it, and now we're just waiting for the accreditation with the new competencies, and then what we do we'll have a full-blown marketing campaign on LinkedIn as well as through ICF and other organizations. But right now we've marketed through the core organizations that we've been working with for their members and their coaches, but I suspect in early next year it'll be available for anyone.

Kevin: 17:55

I see. Are you currently doing any like social media? Are you also like yeah, I'm kind of curious about your different campaigns that you have too. So I understand there's this accreditation part, which will probably get more eyes on your program.

Candace Steele Flippin: 18:07

But anything else that you're experimenting or so what I did, honestly, I I first started sharing it with different coaches whom I was aware of just to see if there was interest. And then we we did a we did several campaigns on LinkedIn as well as Instagram and Facebook, and we got tremendous feedback and interest. And then around the same time, we were notified that there was a there was a change in some of the uh, I would say maybe evolution in ICF. And a lot of coaches have professional development that they want. And so we we thought it was important for us to be able to allow them to do it, but also in a way where they feel good about using their limited professional development dollars to do it. But the good thing about this particular pro program and the coaching and all the things that go into it, you can be any type of a coach and use it. So we have coaches who have more of a religious aspect to their coaching. We have those who are leadership coaches, we have professional development coaches, we have lifestyle coaches who've been certified on it and their backgrounds vary. And so what people have said is they like it because they can use it in any kind of modality, any type of um approach, or any type of c customer, because for the most part, that ability to believe that if you that you can bet on yourself from a career perspective is something that they don't have in their other modalities.

Kevin: 19:36

I see. Now, what I'm really curious about too is like, okay, let's say someone decides to do the certification and whatnot as well with you, right? Does it actually does it what does this certification include? Does it like in terms of like getting someone certified, does it include like coaching the coaches that are interested in this? Oh yeah?

Candace Steele Flippin: 19:55

Yes. So there is a valid, there is a there's a reliable and valid assessment for each one of those factors. And so the coaches are trained on the science behind it and the assessment, and they take the assessment and we walk through it, and then there are coaching methods that we use for each one, and we practice that in the session. And so they leave understanding for level one, the science behind it, how to use the assessment, how to coach using different coaching techniques for each of the methods, and then how to use the tools that are available to them. And there are probably 30 different tools that come with it. So it's not a situation where you get the assessment and then you have to like the workbook comes with it, everything comes with it. And so they like that, and you get to practice. And so we have the practice sessions so that you feel good about how you're deploying the tools and the resources. And then, and then since we know sometimes there's a lag between when you get the assessment and they're the first use, built into it is an onboarding. So after you go through the assessment and pass the certification, then you can sign up for an onboarding, which is kind of a mini refresher so that you can feel really good about it. And then we've built in quarterly updates that are free that coaches can um come in to ask questions or if they need advice or whatever the case may be.

Kevin: 21:21

Very interesting. Now, I'm also curious about your future goals. Where do you kind of want this certification like business, I guess, for coaches to take in the next few years? Like, do you have desires to scale it out more? Sticker dreams no one knows about very curious about that.

Candace Steele Flippin: 21:37

So, a couple things. I like a lot of times people say you need to be more confident, but confidence is just your belief in yourself. And I like to say, you know, confidence will open the door for you when it comes to your career. But it's really your level of self-efficacy that will get you to walk through that door. And so my hope is that, you know, in the in the next 12 months that we can train over 250 to 500 coaches to get certified, because what these coaches will then do is based on their clients, allow them to have career progression on their own terms. And when you can do that, that lifts so many boats. It lifts that individual client's life and the life of their family, but also their communities. And to the extent that people have that self-sufficiency, it also lifts the economy. So that's what we're gearing up towards. And we're really excited about it, and they can feel good about it. And it's not an either-or. I'm also certified in EQI, and I and I combine for my own clients, emotional intelligence. So to the extent that you can identify and use your social and emotional skills, but other people are discs, other people are Hogan. Um, it doesn't matter, it complements it. So I like that. And there's one person who said, I just really want to focus on shape. And so they've just been certified in shape and they're building their business just on that for their client base. And then after we do that in 27, we're looking to um broaden it for young people. So a number of people have said, would you consider something like this for college students? And then maybe younger kids, because these are life skills that are important. So that's where we'll go next.

Kevin: 23:23

As you're thinking about this season business for you, what are some challenges that you're noticing or going through the business right now? Maybe some things that you can most people wouldn't be able to see from the outside looking in.

Candace Steele Flippin: 23:38

Just the need to be able to pivot. So there's the pivotal research started with women, even though the principles apply to everyone, and we've just seen a shift, not completely, but a shift in just our our ability to market the program. So we want to be mindful that we have an audience we're really passionate about. We want to have access to. Some organizations have struggled with just focusing in on women or generational aspects. So we have to really be thoughtful about how we articulate the value and think about how we're going to be niche if we think about women. So that was something that when we first started our business plan, that those conversations around equity, inclusion, and all of that wasn't part of it. And initially a lot of this work fit in a DI category. And we look at it as just business performance or more of a professional development. So that was a learning for us. That's not a learning singer to us, but I I would say that as my husband said, my husband likes to remind me, he goes, Well no, had those things not happen, you're probably even further along. So that's a reality that we grapple with, but it doesn't stop us because we see the impacts on the clients who are using it. And um I view myself more on the development side, the research side, but I have my own clients because I wanted to understand the user experience of coaches. And so even the women I've worked with over the past two years and just to see where their careers are going using these tools and techniques is very gratifying. So that hasn't stopped us. The other thing that I would say is just scaling, just scaling. I know that there are a lot of models where people just go online at self-paced and there's no human intervention. We actually, at this stage, actually like having live training. And so perhaps there's a decision point later where we may just have something that's self-serve, but right now it's an intervention virtual or live. I see. You know, in terms of how we train the coaches, how we engage with them and those sorts of things.

Kevin: 25:46

I see. Wow, that's pretty interesting. Last question for you. Um, if people are interested in this certification that you're providing, how can people find you and connect with you?

Candace Steele Flippin: 25:55

So they can go to our website, which is globalca I.com, which is for the Global Career Advancement Institute. And you can reach out, you can reach out to me on LinkedIn and I'm happy to get you. But we have an amazing trainer who helps certify the coaches. And when I will join in just to answer questions and share the origin story with the coaches and walk through the science. So that's how they can reach me, LinkedIn or Global Career Advancement Institute, or if you want, you can reach out to me at hello at global CAI.

Kevin: 26:25

Beautiful stuff. Something I really appreciate is um I haven't heard the word self-advocacy in a long, long time. Last time was probably like a psychology book, and I can't tell you know, you put a lot of thought into the certification, and I just want to thank you for the work that you do and just for sharing your experience on this podcast.

Candace Steele Flippin: 26:45

So thank you, Captain. I appreciate it.

Kevin: 26:47

Yeah. Thank you so much for your work.

Candace Steele Flippin: 26:49

I like to say that um this work is to help more people have the careers that they they want and they definitely deserve.

Kevin: 26:56

Do you feel that's really lacking these days?

Candace Steele Flippin: 26:59

Absolutely. There are a lot of people, when I say careers they need, there are a lot of people who don't have a career or role that gives them the compensation or the time to be able to sustain themselves and their families. When I say do you have the career you need, it's really do you have a career that provides you with something that's tied to work you actually want to do? Is it what you went to school for? Is what you're trained in? Are you interested in it? Does it connect your passion and your purpose? Do you have the career you want? And then when I say career you deserve, do you have a career that gives you the access, the compensation, the respect based on what you've put in, but because of what you've earned? And so this body of work helps people get to a career they need, one they want, and one they definitely deserve.

Kevin: 27:47

Beautiful stuff. I just had to ask that last follow-up question. Thank you again so much, Candace.

Candace Steele Flippin: 27:51

All right, thanks, Kevin.

Davis Nguyen : 27:52

That's it for this episode of Career Coaching Secrets. If you enjoyed this conversation, you can subscribe on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you're listening to this episode to catch future episodes. This podcast was brought to you by Purple Circle, where we help career coaches scale their business to $100,000 years, $100,000 months, or even $100,000 weeks, all without burning out and making sure that you're making the impact and having the life that you want. To learn more about our community and how we can help you, visit join purplecircle.com.