Competence: A Leadership Attribute

It is easy to understand why a soldier might select competence as the most important attribute of his leader. A soldier’s life depends upon the leader’s competence. If the soldier is to follow his leader into the unknown as he is commanded, he must firmly and resolutely believe that the leader knows his business well enough to ensure a high probability for a successful mission and that he will not be exposed to unnecessary dangers. The same can be said about other high risk occupations such as fire fighters, law enforcement officers and other dangerous non-service sector jobs.


But is there a difference between these high risk jobs and the low to moderately risky jobs that do not risk life and limb in their execution when it comes to leader competence? Well, perhaps less than we might think. In Kouzes and Posner’s, The Leadership Challenge, two surveys were conducted on leadership attributes. The first was a survey of 1,500 private sector managers from around the country. They rated competence as the number two most important trait of a leader. The second was a public sector survey of 800 executives who also listed competence as number two in importance. We might rightly conclude then, that regardless of the profession or sector, competence is a very important attribute for a leader.


Competence is an important leadership attribute because we must firmly and confidently believe that the leader knows what he is doing before we hitch up our wagon to his horse. We must believe that the leader knows enough about the business that he is not going to drive the wagon train over the cliff or more importantly, he is not going to drive me and my wagon over the cliff. In other words, we want to know that our leader is competent enough to ensure that my well being and vital interest are calculated into the success of the mission or job at hand.


As in the military an incompetent leader could overly expose their unit to unnecessary danger and lead to personal injury or death. In a less risky business environment the leader could also cause one to be professionally harmed or injured in other ways, such as your job security, salary, bonus, promotion, professional reputation, pride, self-confidence, and job satisfaction.


We want to know that our leader knows the business and has the ability to make quick and accurate decisions in the dynamics of the battlefield whether it is a military battlefield or a corporate-business battlefield. The leader has to demonstrate that he has mastered the technical, tactical, and strategic aspects of his job and has a track record of success before he can solicit followers to join whole heartedly to his mission. Sure, with positional power a so called leader may be able to order general compliance but that will carry the mission only so far. What the leader obtains with trust through competence is the extraordinary and discretionary effort that is far beyond the required call of duty. It is this extraordinary and discretionary effort that determines mission success or failure, or mission mediocrity or mission excellence. This is true regardless of the type of organization. Colonel Sweeney (West Point) believes also that a business leader’s competence is instrumental in a successful and effective company as is in the military. Employees will undertake greater risk and go the extra mile with organizational change and growth only if they believe the leader is competent enough to be successful.


To summarize, while risking an over-simplification of a fairly complex subject, I will use the following cowboy analogy – the cattle drive:


Before I hire on to your outfit to drive your cattle across hot and dry wild Indian land that I have never seen, I want to make sure you are a real cowboy. I want to know if you understand the cattle business up one side and down the other, and from the horns to the tail. Can you shoot straight? Will you be there beside me when the fighting starts? If things go from bad to worse are you there with me or hiding in the wagon covering your butt? Before I risk life and limb I want to have reasonable assurance that you can get me to the market, pay me my wages, and get me back home with my hair in place and life intact. I want my leader to be a real cowboy and not one with a big fancy hat and shiny boots. I want my leader to be someone who has been there before, has a few battle scars and has proven they have the stuff of a leader. How about this fellow?

ALRIGHT!  Armed with only ice water, I would march across Hell and back with this man! How about you?  A real leader is not all that hard to identify after all, is it?

SHOW ME WHERE TO SIGN IN!  I'M GOING WITH YOU, JOHN.


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