Competence & Kindness

When it comes to leadership we need to be careful not to confuse competence with kindness.

Most people are kind in their way, and there is no shortage of kind people. But leaders need to be competent first.

Kindness without competence can breed cultures every bit as toxic as a genuine bad-actor.

I've seen it in working cultures from big corporates down to little start ups.

Competence plus kindness can be a leadership superpower. But given the choice of just one; it's competence every time.