Leading with Character and Competence

PART TWO

The Four Cornerstones of Competence

IF CHARACTER IS THE INFRASTRUCTURE, COMPETENCE IS THE superstructure. Competence is about skill, adeptness, and mastery. It’s the quality or state of being able to do things and of doing them well. There are of course many areas of technical competence or specialized expertise, but I’m referring to the attributes that lead to general and sustainable competence as a leader.

Learning

The first cornerstone of competence is learning. The learning imperative in the twenty-first century is to learn at or above the speed of change. Thus, the learning disposition of a leader in this context must be agile, aggressive, self-directed, and collaborative. Many people are still deeply socialized with an industrial ...