Contribution is a metric for identifying the real stars in an organization

Through the educational system, one learns technical competence, but delivering results on the ground requires one to have human/ personal/ mindset competence along with the necessary technical competence.

Suppose, somebody has got the technical competence and he does not have the personal/ mindset competence, will he be able to perform? The answer is no, unless he is a pure worker who is going and standing in front of a machine. The minute he is an engineer, even if he is working in a technical factory, he has a supervisory role, where personal/ human/ mindset competence is involved directly. Being a manager in other areas requires that much more human competence.

Suppose, I have got personal competence, but my technical competence is less, can I learn technical competence? Yes, I can learn it.

This can be drawn out as a 2-2 grid of technical competence and personal competence.

If somebody has got low personal competence and high technical competence, what will such a person look like? He can only be almost a worker and he will be a lousy leader or manager. Worse, such a man is not trainable. He becomes a liability to the organization.

Suppose, someone has got high personal competence and low technical competence, he can at least learn. He is trainable. So, this person cannot know but can be taught.

Suppose, he knows things but has a bad mindset, nothing can be done about such a person. If he has got the right mindset, but doesn’t know anything, he will learn. If we pause and see, we will find that more than half the technologies that people have learnt, even in a field like computers, 10 years or 15 years ago, are less and less relevant today; everything is transforming. Why then, are we giving so much importance to training people only in technical competence, if, in any case, it changes with time? While, if we ensure that people’s mindset is right, they will continuously learn along the way. In today’s world, if a person doesn’t have a learning attitude, he will be in trouble very soon. If someone has both: low technical competence and low human competence, then he is to be sacked immediately. Those who have high technical competence and high personal competence – they are the real stars!