I’ve spent my life watching people who are good at what they do. I’ve found a set of skills and features that come together to be something more than the parts. These articles are snapshots. Stories about people I’ve known, highlighting a particular skill or trait in each. Together, these traits add up to a strong new trait. “Competence” with a capital C.
Most of the articles are public, enjoy the ride! The series makes most sense chronologically. I also have a growing set of articles for subscribers on:
How to identify these traits (helpful for managers particularly).
Why Competence matters. What it can do for organizations especially.
How we can cultivate many of these skills ourselves.
How to encourage these skills and traits in others.
What Competence isn’t. What it’s good for and what it isn’t.
How to attract, retain, and make Competent people happy and effective.
This is an under-analyzed trait (or set of traits). Competent people are often unnoticed. I think these stories will resonate with you, you’ll see similar attributes in people you know and will have stories about the hidden stars you’ve met, please share them with us!
Why subscribe?
Good question. Maybe you want to read about people who are very good at things because it’s reassuring to know they’re out there. Maybe you want to get hints about how people become “good at being good at things.” Maybe you have a lot of time on your hands. You’re welcome to subscribe. I write because I enjoy it, and I’ve published because others have encouraged me to. One of those people was a dear friend, Sheila, who passed away in 2021. She was a shining light of Competence. You’ll be able to read about her. This Substack is dedicated to her.
I appreciate subscribers engaging with what I’ve written. You know people like this. Maybe you are one. Maybe you disagree with my observations or analysis. You might spot a key attribute I’ve missed, or think I’ve sliced the set wrong or misinterpreted a behavior. Your insight will make this project more. Commenting is limited to subscribers to keep it sensible.
Nearing the end of my list of people and attributes, I’ve slowed to publishing ad-hoc as I feel like it. I expect to continue publishing over time, but the whole set will be here to read for a long time to come. If that sounds good to you you’re welcome to subscribe. If you email me with a thoughtful comment you want to add to the discussion and interacting with you I think you’re here to engage in a good way, I’ll set you up as a subscriber type who will be able to comment.
The “how-to” articles will be mostly available only to the engaged subscribers. If there’s a lesson I’ve learned about Competence, it’s not available by just reading and observing. Competence is an active thing. So if you want to see and make use of the how-to’s, plan to dig in and engage. This is a passion project, to appreciate all I’ve learned from the many Competent people who have (intentionally or not) let me learn from their light. I hope to fill a gap in the world’s understanding of what makes someone “good at being good at things.”
Welcome and Enjoy
To find out more about the company that provides the tech for this newsletter, visit Substack.com.
<a rel="me" href="https://zirk.us/@Techne">Mastodon</a>
