By SIMBO OLORUNFEMI
I made the point yesterday that, “doors that competence might struggle to open, confidence will often find a way to bypass.”
Some might have mistaken that as rating one above the other, assuming my position to be that one is more important than the other.
Not at all. There is a place for competence, and a place for confidence.
Indeed, my submission comes from a presupposition of competence and not incompetence.
From the little I have seen, studying and experiencing life, many competent hands often get short-changed or left behind in life on account of either being laidback or short on confidence.
What it does, however, is suggest that whereas competence by itself might struggle to receive the attention it duly deserves, confidence tends to be more helpful in eliciting attention such that competence is then discovered or confirmed.
From the little I have seen, studying and experiencing life, many competent hands often get short-changed or left behind in life on account of either being laidback or short on confidence.
That might be so, in part, because often those vested with the power to choose or decide who makes it through the door are often overwhelmed, confused or ignorant of how best to determine who is the most competent.
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Whereas competence is assumed to have been validated by certification, when it comes to the ‘recruitment’ process, there is much more that is required or requested by those with the powers to decide.
Soft skills (social, communication, people skills) that can hardly be validated by certificates have become more valuable in the work space as other spaces. In any case, with so many competing talents out there, with competence no longer a distinguishing factor, confidence can itself factor as competence and end up as the decisive reason why one competent hand makes it through the door and the other is shut out.
What I have however found, sadly so too, is competence lagging behind, beyond other reasons, to lethargy with roots in lack of confidence.
Many of us did not know about these things until almost too late. Many of us did not even know anything about the important place of soft skills.
We must see self-confidence as an important arm of (establishing/proving/asserting) competence.
While one might indeed be competent, getting in through the door to establish that fact is another thing altogether. What confidence does is helping to get the door open so that competence might find the platform to establish itself.
One is not superior to the other. One is as essential as the other. One complements the other. What I have however found, sadly so too, is competence lagging behind, beyond other reasons, to lethargy with roots in lack of confidence.
