5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

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  1

  Coach-Lee-428

  08/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Here are my five that I believe have always been and will always be no matter the time frame:
  
  1. Results Focused
  2. Consistently demonstrate High ethics
  3. Self directed learner (learn what you need to get to where you need to be)
  4. Effective communicator who understands emotional intelligence to neuro linguistic programming. We now have names for qualities that always existed.
  5. Be open to change and willing to change.
  
  Leanne Hoagland-Smith
  

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  2

  mariaarjelia

  08/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  The five core compentencies I believe are critical to success today and tomorrow: 1) ethical thoughts and behavior, 2) servant leadeship as a foundation to business approach, 3) change agent, 4) HONESTY, and 5) I like the "managing ambiguity" from above.
  
  Arjelia Gomez

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  3

  Acerebel

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Competency is itself a necessary competency; it is not now sufficient (nor has it ever been, really) to be just good enough. Gen X and Y and the up-and-comers need to be better at the details, tools, processes, procedures, methodologies, and practical aspects of their professions and crafts. I have a friend who's a top flight economist and accountant, who's appalled, first, that many ostensibly qualified and experienced applicants for jobs in his agency are showing not even the most basic competence in the fundamental tools of their trade (such as Excel) and, second, that none of them shows excellence in their use. I, too, encounter similar problems, with people who know just enough of Microsoft Outlook to do a bit of social networking around the building, but don't know how to create a formal meeting request with location, attachments and invited participants, whose availability has been checked through Calendar. So, competency. Let's have more of it.

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  4

  foobarph

  08/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  3CIT
  - Customer
  - Change
  - Collaboration
  - Innovation
  - Trustworthiness...
  
  Those are my five personal competencies, both in work and home. ^^

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  5

  Econ 1

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Academia is alive and well at bnet!

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  6

  Mick WA

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  I have a simpler set of competences that I will not accept,
  
  Incompetence
  Laziness
  Lying
  
  all the rest are bonuses or teachable.
  
  Anyone with all three of the above will make you and your organisation ILL.
  
  

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  7

  Dan Erwin

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  I think you're absolutely correct on the five--especially ambiguity. However, research at the Dallas Fed has shown that the most successful business people have one solid technology plus expertise in people skills. Although people skills are implicit within some of your five, they need to be surfaced into a new category. While writing this, I remembered that Peter Senge and his colleagues argued the same issue. Indeed, Stanford MBAs will tell you that "touchy-feely," their program on people skills was the most important learning gain in their MBA program (it also includes emotional skills).
  
  Here's my blog on the issue: http://danerwin.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/04/geny-competencies-six-relational-skills.html
  
  
  

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  8

  chiayewheng

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  I have known people who are really emotional jackass. Incredible hot-cold kind of temperament sweeps through the office every day and at times the emotion can be hot in the morning and harsh by the afternoon. Mind you she hold high positions of power.
  
  I think of the five personal core competencies, the one on managing one's emotion ranks first. For if you cannot even manage your personal emotions, how can you get anything done. Calmness and confidence will allow you to manage ambiguity, exercise responsibility more effectively, building up a network of support and of course learning and apply Technology. Try managing ambiguity without a good self control. Try be responsible when you are all caught up in blaming who did what to you... Try building loyalty when nobody knows when you may suddenly flare up... Try learning how to look for information on the intranet when you are angry everytime surfing it brings you a less familiar page...At the end of the day, the pinnacle of competency is self management, managing one's own emotion...

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  9

  Lampoon

  08/13/09 | Report as spam

  Go Econ1

  Except for point 5, what a load of pseudo-intellectual twaddle. Admittedly without reading the full text, what does ?Managing ambiguity is that tension between rushing to the clear, the concrete, and managing this ambiguous fuzzy area in the middle." actually mean. The last time I read something like that was in a confused post-modernist tract. It is meaningless. If it avers to dealing with uncertainty then as a species we have been able to do it for some time via the abstraction capabilities of our brain (read millions of years).
  The correspondents were more on the mark with their suggested values. Points 2 through 4 - don't we innately teach those qualities to our young now and for the last who knows how many millennia?
  Where is Douglas Adams' spaceship packed with the totally useless hurtling to the infinite when you need it! All aboard Helen Haste.

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  10

  Jainats

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Predicting change within a environment or market is getting to be the most challenging aspect of working life, especially when you are developing products which will hit the market a year down the line. I agree with " dealing with ambiguity" from this reference point.
  Also having necessary people management skills would give one an edge.

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  11

  rigeco

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Hmm. That first one's a little ambiguous...

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  12

  grichter

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  While education can help some what, experience is the best teacher of all. Today's students in a lot of ways are less adapted at making long term management decisions. The middle managers and supposed college wiz kids are trying to ?spin? decisions, instead of understanding the complete A to Z affect.
  
  Wall Street is a classic example of corporate CEO?s spinning how great their company is when in reality their ?widgets? were broken.
  
  Roll up your sleeves, get dirty, and listen to those who do their jobs?then take the time to process to arrive at a sound decision.

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  13

  rickytoydonato

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  For me here are my five that I believe ...
  
  1) Leadership - there is always one individual who perceives a solution and is willing to take command.
  2) Attitudes - are contagious. Are yours worth catching?
  3) Science is simply common sense at its best
  4) Perseverance & not obstinacy -When you come to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on
  5) Boldness - is the 1st 2nd and 3rd thing... with God almighty at the Back....
  
  ricky.donato@ahamcorp.com
  

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  14

  pkulcsar@...

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  My all time favorite is observation.
  
  "To see what isn't shown.
  To hear what isn't said."
  
  Next would be the abiity to interpet observation accurately and consistantly put that information to good use. Good use meaning ROI in our personal and in our business life and never forget that ethically we are all bound to do no harm.

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  15

  wan.nurul.ashikin@...

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  The list is alright. I think the people side is always critical - EQ, shared values, responsive, passionate and action-oriented leadership - as organisations these days (and in the future) operate under diverse and challenging conditions.

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  16

  ashishamar

  08/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Missing from the list are a lot of things but these come to my mind immediately:
  
  Integrity
  Honesty
  Sincerity
  Ethical conduct
  Ability to unlearn and then learn all over again

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  17

  sunil.kumar

  08/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Given the speed at which the current generation is moving some of the views express to me looks primitive. The following few may be worth exploring:
  
  a. Ability to Adapt: The most successful will the person who is willing to adapt to the dynamic environment in which he lives/works.
  
  b. Ability to Change: While adapting is one aspect of an individuals competency, he should be willing to CHANGE, trust me there is going to be a world tomorrow where CHANGE is inevitable and consistent, so be prepared.
  
  c. ROSE: Result Oriented Survival Experience, yes there needs to be a change in the way we behave and we should be able to survive by results than reasoning. The coming days are going to be only for those who can deliver results. Thus it is important to develop Result Oriented Survival Experience (ROSE).
  
  Comments are welcome:
  
  Sunil Kumar
  USA

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  18

  slecturer

  08/13/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Better to put your attention to,
  1. Innovativeness
  2. Uniqueness
  3. Strategic Thinking
  4. Competitiveness
  5. Management Quality
  
  Kumara Uluwatta
  Senior Lecturer
  Wayamba University of Sri Lanka
  

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  19

  counj3fl@...

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  The change constant must be embraced within the context of good conscience. Recognition that individual choices we make impacts you the business/organization, customers/clients, families, friends & colleagues must be triple underscored. Secondly, recognition that everything we do rides on a sea of ethics and the image that comes to mind whenever your organization's products and services are mentioned. It's important to gain trust and create good-will and its even more important to maintain it over time. A goal of balancing the greater good in the minds of clients and customers along with survival is essential. This will remain the challenge for the 21st century and beyond within the context of constant change.

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  20

  navaneeethkutti

  08/14/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  The competencies mentioned for the 21 st Century is really important for every one. But two things that have remained constant for all centuries is confidence & ethical practice. So person having this two competency will certainly have all others.
  
  regrads
  Navaneeth

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  21

  jimmarkunas

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Could this woman have been any more vague? Windy, windy,
  windy Harvard professor!!! : )

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  22

  sumantranag

  08/14/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  I know this is not a very positive approach to the question raised but might just bear mentioning for the sake of further examination: Henry Mintzberg (the distinguished writer on strategy from McGill University) has written a book - by now quite familiar - called "Managers not MBAs" in which he has criticised the whole exercise of teaching management as an all-encompassing discipline to fresh university entrants who have not had working experience in industry. In this regard he is particularly scathing about Harvard Business School and its models. Mintzberg demonstrated with statistical evidence that there were more successful CEOs with general (i.e., not management) degrees than there were with MBAs. Is the identification of "5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century" another case of REDUCTIONISM where a much broader and subtle set of attributes are called for?

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  23

  raptor123

  08/14/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  jimmarkunas spot on!
  
  After many years as a manager basic skills I feel are still essential
  
  An ability to communicate to a mixed and varied audiance is essential, in simple plain english ( I am a brit so english for me )
  
  Ability to embrace change ( change has and always will be with us )
  
  Ability to listen to others and keep them on your side
  
  Be clear about you expect and be consistant, supportive and be prepared to make the difficult decisions, that sometimes may mean saying no to your manager or your employee
  
  Acerebel
  It is a given that you employ people with the techincal skills for the job, otherwise why have you employed them? Unless it is a training post
  
  Interesting that there are so many answers to peoples perception of what constitiues competency. I have given what I feel are essential skills. Competency is horse of a differnet colour and without a standard by which to compare, it is difficult to assess. These skills will support not just managers but any one employed as there is a need to manage up, laterally and downwards
  
  Regards
  John UK
  
  
  
  
  

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  24

  Fashion Fit Formula

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Understanding your organizations 5-3-1 year plans and how your department fits into achieving those goals. Then innovating to excel beyond the competency just to get the job done.
  
  Everyone works for the customer, either internal or external. If your customer has a problem then you have a problem, and it is your responsibility to make it sure that it is resolved.
  
  Understanding the strengths of your team and playing to those competencies.
  
  
  
  

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  25

  efarrugia12

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Nice Article, thank you. I have personally found that mastering the 'Managing Emotion' point has made my working life much easier. I now clearly see the struggle of junior employees who are not privy to the big picture and get emotional over a requirement that they feel that makes no sense at all, which it wouldn't at the tactical level however would have significant positive results at a strategic level. This normally results in heated discussions, arguments and low morale.

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  26

  malleck

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  It's interesting how people react to the term "competencies". Because competent is such an emotional and judgmental term, and involves assessment by others. What will upcoming leaders need for success?
  - Self-awareness, including knowing one's own set of values and beliefs
  - The ability to collaborate, cooperate, influence and be influenced by others who are different from self
  - Health; in mind, heart and body
  - Curiousity and interest; whether wide or narrow, that keeps one motivated
  - Detachment from work; so one is able to separate one's personal worth from task delivery or meeting performance expectations

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  27

  Vera Onyeaka

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  For me its creativity & innovation, study & learn...acquire more skills that you need to stand out, integrity and attitude -learn and unlearn

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  28

  scottgart

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Functional competencies take years to learn and young people should find the most successful mentors they can identify to learn a profession. I believe we only need three core competencies:
  Set high goals
  Use good, positive self talk everyday to help persevere
  Hold yourself accountable for your results
  
  It is simple but not easy
  

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  29

  Questioning Reader

  08/14/09 | Report as spam

  More additions

  I would like to add
  
  - Flexibility in time management
  - Ability to multi task, doing several 'doable' things at the same time - switching rapidly from one task to the other to get a sense of 'simultaneous progress' - this is very necessary as several tasks are 'high priority' so you could comfortably do a couple of high priority tasks with a medium priority task switching from one to the other whenever you feel like it !
  
  http://WebDesignExpert.Me

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  30

  bwkenney

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  My $0.02
  
  5 qualities: Clarity, Energy, Harmony, Agility, and Fortitude applied to three categories: Personal, Interpersonal, & Environmental/Cultural.
  
  Clarity:
  Conviction, Perspective, Vision, Communication
  
  Energy:
  Passion, Self-Motivation, Motivation, Drive, and Optimism
  
  Harmony:
  Balance, Empathy, Openness, Connection, Self-Acceptance
  
  Agility:
  Flexbility, Adaptability, Versatility, Swiftness
  
  Fortitude:
  Discipline, Courage, Tenacity, Self-Control

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  31

  jalesch

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  For those of you fiddling with definition of ambiquity....come on! I deal with this everyday. Point to point people who see one path to a solution (linear) as opposed to those recognizing multiple paths with diverging or converging interests and opportunities to the system or issue being analyzed.
  
  Linear thinking is just that. Call it mr/mrs one-way-street. Rigid, unweilding and difficult to work with. Please...leave my team and go pull a lever the rest of your life. I have no time for staff who cannot think out-of-the-box (hate that euphemism, but whatever) and see an issue from more than just their own ivory tower. My two cents.

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  32

  mballard@...

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  I"d add Managing Information
  
  In a world rich in research, collected data, knowledge
  and information turning it into wisdom that offers
  insight, payback to society, or organizations should be
  on the list. In a society and organizations filled with silo
  thinking and or information overload it is becoming
  increasingly difficult for many groups to cope.

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  33

  cbouchard

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Apparently a core competency for the 21st century is being able to come up with lists of great-sounding values without any research to back them up. See how many of us have learned how to do it?

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  34

  yogshastri

  08/14/09 | Report as spam

  Mine is only three!

  1. Work Hard
  2. Play fair
  3. Trust in god! (or Have Faith in self and others)
  
  And that's sufficient for me

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  35

  mja110952

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Interesting list, I noticed that many of the comments dealt with Strengths, talents, character and values when the post is about competencies; the ability to understand and articulate the difference between these would be in my list of competencies for leaders along with delegation skills and the ability to develop and manage infrastructure.
  
  Before I look for someone with the authors list of core competencies I would look for these:
  
  1 Ability to soundly articulate collaborative business objectives
  2 Ability to identify and manage tasks to accomplish objectives
  3 Ability to set standards and measurements for task accomplishment
  4 Ability to understand and align to business premise; corporate strategies, planning etc.
  5 Discipline and Time management - without them you cannot manage anything
  
  I know this is a worn out list, but what if our young people could actually execute them out of college.
  
  Just teach Drucker, everything else they need to know in business they find out when they loose their first company.

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  36

  Avi Fertig

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Actually, these were always essential core competencies. For
  some reason, they're less emphasized today than in past
  decades. I hope this article will get some traction.

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  37

  wireyone

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  As a younger guy I kind of concider myself as the subject of this article and the "managing ambiguity" is a big challenge I face everyday. And I dont think you can properly manage ambiguity without substantial confidence from your peers and managment. If they did not trust you they would give you a recipe for what they wanted. You can't manage ambiguity without alot of personal accountability, I made the best desicion based on the current data, and if it all goes to hell then I will take the heat. But all of the above boil down to competency, an inept worker does not get the chance to manage abiguity because his manager knows he is inept and does not trust him, nor will he make desicions based off of partial data because he is not confident in his competency and will not be held accountable if it goes bad.

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  38

  larryswinford

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  I thought Helen Haste's list was perfectly appropriate for the current day. The shortest distance is no longer a straight line when the business geography can change from one day to the next. On the agency and responsibility some leadership-types will find the key word "confidence" and muster the bluff and bluster to assume they can "actually will be able to deal with it". The problem is that the word "able" is actually the key and "knowing what responsibility means" is part of the strength of action. For all those poohing community, they need to realize that it is a broader dynamic than the previous concept of team. We've gone beyond army and football metaphors where we crash in conflict, business becomes a dance. We don't just sell to get tally marks beside the name, or even that our company rises beyond the next. When we are able to help the customer accomplish and grow, then the customer helps us. Properly connected, customers will often bring us business because their friends also need what we've got to offer. They also bring us ideas for innovation when they say, "This doesn't quite fit right anymore." Ms. Haste was more square to the mark than some may want to admit.

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  39

  valeriehg

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Something that Manual Castells pointst out in is book "The Internet Galaxy" is that we need to be able to sift through all the information we have available and be able to apply it in specific ways that provide benefits.

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  40

  karenyoung521

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Some good ideas here. Defining a competency as being able to "manage" something, however, is problematic. How would you measure that?
  You don't need to simply "manage" technological change - you need base competency in essential tools like Excel. I too have been appalled at how many people simply don't have it. Companies should test everyone coming in and require remedial training if necessary. I've learned you can't assume that because someone is young, they have the technological skills.
  Emotion and reason are NOT the same. However, "people skills" really is being able to understand emotion, your own and others', and express and deal with others' emotion appropriately. A critical skill that should be taught explicitly well before college.
  I would add "work ethic" and "honesty/ethical behavior" as others have mentioned.

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  41

  JVastano

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  The United States neither exists nor operates in a vacuum. While these "5" are important, there is one key competency not on the list: intercultural effectiveness - both in communicating and managing across cultures.
  
  Jerry Vastano
  Brussels, Belgium
  itim international (www.itim.org)

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  42

  dodwyer

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  They are all ambiguous. Maybe the video is better.

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  43

  dangelow@...

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  I have to weigh in on the "Managing Ambiguity" - this is crap.
  
  There is nothing new here, business is risky and life is
  ambiguous.
  
  Managing Ambiguity in the marketplace is one thing, there is
  no excuse for managing ambiguity internally - ambiguity
  appears because management does not lead - Thats the
  word
  
  What frequently happens in management does not have the
  backbone to lead and own their decisions - they throw
  "managing ambiguity" into the mix and hope their staff can
  find a way to succeed in lieu of leadership.
  
  

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  44

  speaktostudents

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Empathy should be a core competency and is somewhat addressed in building and sustaining a community.
  
  Integrity must lead the list and is the foundation for agency and responsibility. Without the ability to do what you need to do whether you want to do it or not, success is more difficult.

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  45

  RCSC

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  When I clicked on the link I was expecting answers. So what is
  missing from the list is being able to provide solutions to the
  problem, not just pointing out the problem.

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  46

  froggy57

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Three observations I have made in 50 yrs of business.
  
  1. Lying.
  Everyone lies. The one who claims he/she doesn't lie,
  is the biggest liar of all. I lie when I have to, tell the
  truth when I can. Telling the truth is a fiction that management keeps reiterating because they lie constantly and hate competition. Same reason the Government hates stealing amongst the population.
  
  2. Incompetence? Laughing my ass off. Show me someone who isn't.
  
  3. Laziness.. give me a frigging break!
  Why do people want to retire? And lay on the beach in Cancun? We are all lazy. We work because we have to.
  
  Stop with the psycho babble.
  Management are the cons who convinced someone in charge that they were competent.
  But look at the banking industry. Supposedly the best and the brightest.
  
  
  

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  47

  jkwood

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Great variety of commentary: I too would add that critical to being effective and efficient is having the following competencies:
  
  Responsibility: willingness to be accountable for what you do and your team. Stand up to take the credit or blame
  
  Problem Solver: capable of being a real value-add to the team by presenting options/solutions for identified problems. Quite easy to point out errors or problems - it takes more engine power to come up with solutions!
  
  Strategic: demonstrable critical thinking and implementation of ideas and solutions. Can plan and work plan yet be flexible when adaptation/change is necessary.
  
  As mentioned: Communication skills will always be ongoing both internal and external is necessary

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  48

  lailamat

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  RE: froggy57's comments.
  
  You are right on! Psychobabble crap. I am so tired of all this blogging blah blah blah. The View from Harvard Business School. The reality is some businesses do everything right and do not succeed, while others do everything wrong and get bailed out by the government.
  
  I have worked for incompetent corporations and presidents and am always amazed these places are still open. Oh wait, that's right, they have the accounting department and the sales department moving numbers around.
  
  What I have learned in my 25 years, inept managers higher inept subordinates, because they are afraid of being exposed and losing their position.

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  49

  conlad

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Almost 50 comments, and no mention of humility. Arrogance and an unmeasured ambition brought the crisis upon the world. Want to teach something? start there, and the rest might fall in place.
  
  btw, ancient classics already thought much of what is being said here. Read Sun Tzu or Aristotle, and then use your common sense to apply on today's world.

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  50

  Lampoon

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Right on conlad. Hard lesson to learn but worth it. My personal mantra when the ego gets out of control "I'm just another human being and just a human being".

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  51

  Wutang40

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  The article should offer a critique of current organizational
  structures, based on State regulation and political and
  economic processes which constrain and direct the individuals
  within them. Organizational Pathologies.

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  52

  totefrosch

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  As a retired corporate executive, now professor, I ask myself why so much rubbish is coming out of Harvard. They are either restating what is generally known with their unique jargon or they are espousing their ideas about management in the real world when they don't have the hands-on experience as a manager in the real world. This is like letting a biology teacher advise medical surgery.

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  53

  crcadle

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  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Here is my take on the important competencies:
  1. Process trained - The tools of generating ideas and focusing become foundational
  2. Problem Solving - Applying the above tools
  3. Creativity - Recognizing new ways to look at opportunities or change
  4. Teamwork - Benefitting from a collaborative environment
  
  Chuck Cadle, CEO Destination ImagiNation

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  54

  sbkalatage@...

  08/16/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  My 5 personal core competencies for 21st century
  
  1. Quickly adaptable to situation
  2. Excellent communication- Oral,Written, And Listening
  3. Multi skilled
  4. Team Leader and player
  5. Highly self motivated
  
  SB Kalatage

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  55

  dornenburg

  08/16/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  No one has commented yet on the fact that using a new tool changes us and through us changes social practices. A simple tool, paying bills on-line, threatens to bring down the post office if the volumes of urban mail necessary to sustain remote postal service drops through the break-even floor. Unintended consequences? Those without credit cards and bank accounts have lost the only vehicle they have for paying their bills and the elderly living alone no longer have a letter carrier keeping a daily eye on them.
  
  But we don't need society-wide examples to make the point. If managers can learn to look ahead to the potential impact of what look like simple technical changes in their products and services they will save an enormous amount of grief--or provide great improvements--downstream.
  
  Systems thinking. Or is this too ambiguous?
  

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  56

  jjerome

  08/16/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  The 5 competencies I believe are necessary are:
  1. Ability to Learning and Adapt
  2. Ability to Prioritize
  3. Ability to Interact and put other ahead of themselves
  4. Ability to Manager Ambiguity
  5. Ability to Teach/Coach
  

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  57

  ajhawar

  08/17/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Systems Thinking is what I will add to the mix.

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  58

  theresasm

  08/17/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  This is a great one to get everyone knowing what they connect with. I would like to add the following for new grads who are headed into new experiences.
  
  1. Show up and choose to be present to what ever is put in front of you. Accountability.
  2. Pay attention to what has heart and meaning. It comes with our relationships and connection to community, with our family, our neighbors, our co-workers, and global community.
  3. Tell the truth without blame or judgment. Integrity. Honesty.
  4. Be open to outcome, not attached to it. Stay away from creating stories of what you think could go wrong.
  

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  59

  sraftcpa

  08/17/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  In my opinion, there is truly only a single competency to be successful now and forever: Know Thy Customer.
  
  If you can identify the needs of a customer (or hopefully many customers) and how your product or service relate to that need, then you will have obtained the first level of success; to continue, you need to adapt and innovate to keep your product or service relevant to your customer and their ever-changing needs (or perceived needs). Adaptation and Innovation are competencies that are corollaries to a deep understanding of your customer(s). Without this knowledge you (or your product/service) become irrelevant and ignored. B-Schools need to teach this as there have been too many consultants that look at sheaves of data-filled paper of historical demand and projected demand and sales per square foot or cost per unit to attempt to maximize supply chain efficiency, but they do lose sight of sales being a function of demand and having the supply to meet the demand. By supply, I do not mean just the units, but the units that the customers will come asking for. This is the key to a successful business career - knowing the customer well enough to accomplish this. If you sell widgets and decide to make them "green", is this in response to the green movement or is your customer base demanding "green" widgets. Someone named Mark Zuckerberg identified a need for college students to recognize each other on campus before learning each others' names and now the equivalent to almost the population of the United States have facebook accounts - the product evolved to meet the demand of customers other than college students through adaptation to use and innovation of new uses.
  
  Just a few examples of how knowing your customer is the business imperative and the core competency for success.

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  60

  seansilverthorne@...

  08/18/09 | Report as spam

  The Author Responds

  What a wonderful conversation you readers have ignited here. What I take away from many of your comments is that a core skill necessary in any age is one that President Obama mentioned recently: empathy.
  
  This is the ability to put yourself in another person's shoes, to understand what they are feeling, why they are behaving the way they are. It's emotional IQ. By understanding what makes people tick, empathetic managers can help their people lift themselves to do their best work.
  
  --Sean
  
  

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  61

  mavincent

  08/18/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  These 5 competencies are certainly essential to survive the fast-paced world of the 21st century - but I think what is often forgotten is SELF CARE. Taking care of one self physically, emotionally and spiritually. With increasing ambiguity and accountability - and the rapid changes in technology - come intensifying expectations from supervisors and customers - and even ourselves. Controlling emotion becomes more difficult at times in this milieu. Also, we have new ways to maintain community which can go badly very quickly in ways many of us never imagined even 30 years ago. To borrow a term from the Late Neil Postman, we are living in a Technopoly. A technopoly is when technology dominates culture and society. The trick is to have a strategy for managing the volume and pace of this Force without letting it swallow us up whole.

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  62

  Steve Tobak

  08/18/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Helen Haste demonstrates that some business school academics live in their own world, and that world bears little resemblance to the real business world.
  
  For a dose of reality, you might want to hop over to BNET's The Corner Office and check out 5 Personal Core Competencies for the Real Business World: http://blogs.bnet.com/ceo/?p=2686
  
  Call me old fashioned, stubborn, or just plain pragmatic, but my list of traits or "core competencies" will look the same tomorrow as it did yesterday because that's the way it really is out there. The abitrary fact that we're now in a different century than we were in ten years ago doesn't change a thing.
  
  What can I say, I happen to believe that business schools, big management consulting firms, and so-called leadership or management gurus primarily serve themselves. But hey, that's just me.
  
  In any case, there's a great dialog going on here; Kudos to Sean!
  
  Steve Tobak
  

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  63

  jaimemenor

  08/19/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  The listing is okay especially the ambiguity. However, people skills should not be left behind and be put in a new category. During my study of MBA program people skills was the most important learning I gain.
  When we study things, we thought that s leadership or strategy is the cornerstone for ?Effective Execution? of everything. But if we look closer on what is said and done all best practices has already been recorded and documented but due to complexity of human behavior those best practices still has a loopholes. So for me people skills and the knowledge on recent technologies and being proactive and reactive to changes in ones environments is essential to manage the change process.
  
  http://www.aheadguide.com

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  64

  BMC HR

  08/20/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  I think we need to start from understanding the key concept first. I say this becasue a lot of people are confusing competence with attributes. Competence is the ability to do something well while attribute is a quality that a person posseses. In line with that understanding I believe that apart from the five compences in focus a 21st century manager must have the following abilities:
  - Ability to spot and manageme opportunities.
  - Ability to process data and information including computer usage.
  - Ability to organise resources; including material, financial, time and human.
  - Ability for interpersonal communication; including intercultural and interpersonal relationships.
  - Ability to play in team and also lead others.
  - Ability to set objectives and vision.
  - Ability to learn and adapt fast and well.
  - Ability to teach and coach others.
  - Ability to write well and make presentations.
  Kingsley Aduga
  HR Manager

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  65

  GeorgeKP

  08/24/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  how can you possibly be reasonable and emotional at the same time given that those two are separate by nature?

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  66

  sammyeshiet@...

  08/25/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  If the aforementioned 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st century and all of the ones that various responders had come up with will help the poor amongs us to have a sense of belonging then, I go for them all. Given the hardship that the Economic melt down has brought upon the poor people who are in the majority in this world, then we are challenged to do something. Someone did mentioned thinking out of the box, if this is what we have to do then let go ahead and make the world a better place for. If the poor people will continue to be poor then all the theories (Competencies) add together will mean very little. So let the entire G7 or G20 support the efforts of President Obama in his current war against poverty. so that the less privilege will have something to look and live for.
  Hope I am not deviating from the issue on the table.

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  67

  Baidnath

  08/26/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Core competency is something which cannot be copied and it
  is the pillar upon which business rest. According to me three
  basic element is there in Core Competency it is -
  1.Knowledge
  2.Skills
  3.Abilities
  
  regards,
  Mr. Baid Nath

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  68

  krishrajamani

  08/27/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  It is interesting to note the varied response. I have been in the Engineering and construction business for more than three decades. I always found it necessary to be close to the working engineers to understand what they are doing and ask why. This presense in the work area rather than in a cabin enables one to identify problem areas before they become critical and sitting with people to explain the expected problem and allowing them to come out with suggestion before arriving at the solution helped to make them effective and enabled them to discudd freely their problems. The main competency is Interpersonal skill, effective communication and understand People as they are.

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  69

  krishrajamani

  08/27/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  The core competencies required all the time to lead people are:
  
  Understand People as they are by being close the work place.
  
  Encourage People to understand problems and give solutions
  
  Explain the solution arrived
  
  Communicate Effectively
  
  Appreciate questions raised by people
  
  Be available when they need you
  
  These are possible and I have followed these with a great degree of success with Young Engineers working on Global Projects. These may not sound great and appear simple. But simple solutions are normally very effective

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  70

  irene g.

  08/29/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Count me in Steve Tobak !!! I TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU and
  I don't think we are OF THE SAME GENERATION.... i do not
  understand why it should CHANGE over time!
  
  But I like the way Helen Haste presented the 5 PERSONAL
  CORE COMPETENCIES in the 21st century because true to its
  claim, it is really FOR THE 21st CENTURY based on current
  trend and practices. Nonetheless, it still originated from THE
  BASIC CORE SKILLS written in history books.... Hastes' list of
  competencies has a touch of the more traditional ones as
  ETHICS, INTEGRITY, HONESTY, UNDERSTANDING PEOPLE OR
  CUSTOMERS, being a SYSTEMS THINKER and all!!! But maybe,
  some did not want to agree with the others opinions (it is my
  feeling and thought after reading other's reaction of the
  article.) because I get this impression that WE DO NOT SEEM
  TO HAVE THE SAME DEFINITION of what a PERSONAL CORE
  COMPETENCY is... if I may say, some suggestions here should
  not even be in the list... well, that is as far as MY OWN
  DEFINITION is concerned...
  
  Maybe... we can AGREE start giving our OWN DEFINITION
  using CRITERIA or PARAMETERS instead?? so that IT GETS
  MEASURED??? (why not? I think this is challenging)
  
  

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  71

  ChiliGuy

  08/31/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Several good responses here... and some just complaints. As one person mentioned, the ability to present solutions and not just point out the problems is what moves organizations ahead rather than being stuck in neutral, continuously grinding the "problem" gears.
  
  To add to the good observations presented, I would add my take on four more:
  
  1. Decision-making: Have the ability and guts to make a decision and then own it. Sometimes your decision isn't the right one, but that's an opportunity to learn and grow; at least you aren't still stuck in "paralysis by analysis mode".
  
  2. Taking responsibility: No one is perfect; when you make a mistake, own it, learn and grow. Don't look for someone or something else to blame.
  
  3. Teamwork/collaboration: Be mindful or others and their needs. Our current business/social environment is one of "doing more with less". Everyone needs to balance their own needs with everyone else's with the goal of achieving the best for the organization. We can't move forward as a group if we're all scratching and clawing to meet our own selfish wants.
  
  4. Echoing the need for technical competence: The lack of basic technical skills is discollaborative (I just made up that word, but I think it describes the effects). Unfortunately, often those who are doing the hiring do not own those skills themselves, and so hire to their own level of incompetence. If you don't have the skills, eat a slice of humble pie and take a class.
  
  My 2 cents after taxes...

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  72

  rictownsend

  09/01/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Competence (or competence modeling) is something I spent six months at with a team in a major high tech organization a little time back. The research was done using 360 degree analysis, questionnaires plus personal interviews regarding 'what a particular job role (or series of tasks) was really about' from the incumbents point of view.
  
  The research found five core competencies or groups that we expanded for the reasons I'll explain below.
  
  Firstly The five main categories where:
  
  JOB COMPETENCIES (Knowledge & Know-how)
  
  CUSTOMER FOCUSED (Internal & External)
  
  FUTURE & CHANGE ORIENTED (Flexible & Challenge Driven)
  
  BUSINESS ACUMEN (Micro & Macro)
  
  PEOPLE SKILLS (Self & Others)
  
  Before you can get into any serious discussion you really need to decide on a definition of what competence is: in our case it was 'skills, knowledge and experience required to successfully complete a particular task'.
  
  As the definition relates to tasks you need to expand on in the areas analyzed as a cursory look at the five core competencies won't help you much.
  
  So looking at "people skills" as an example, here are a few individual competencies to consider (there are many more):
  
  Assertive, Coaching/Teaching, Communicates Effectively, Continuous Learner, Determination, Networking Ability, Integrity, Pressure Coping, Relationship Building, Risk Taking, Team Leadership, Team Player, Tenacious, Developing Others, Directive, Empowering, Flexibility, Influence, Interpersonal Understanding etc...
  
  I am currently posting an in depth explanation of these "People Skills" on my blog at: http://orglearn.org/career_success_blog/ (up to about 3 of probably 8 posts) if you are interested in exploring these further... i.e. what are the behaviors required at work.
  
  The other often overlooked issue is, what level of competence are we looking for or do we need to develop in ourselves.
  
  We used four where "A" is basic and "D" is comprehensive.
  
  Briefly:
  
  A-Level?Beginners able to understand and use methods and aids, propose improvements and in a responsible way, work under given quality requirements with a fixed time schedule and on the basis of defined problems.
  
  B-Level
  Some one who has a deeper knowledge within field of occupation and is able to relate work to a greater whole. Can plan and design his/her work on basis of given guidelines, solve obvious and sometimes complicated problems and can instruct others.
  
  C-Level
  This level of employee will also be familiar with adjoining fields and have an overall view of the work organisation. Can plan and initiate tasks and decide how they are to be carried out as well as investigate, analyze and evaluate alternatives.
  
  D-Level
  Expert with a broad and deep knowledge within several process or function areas required. This employee can come up with, develop and pursue ideas, identify needs, propose and carry through changes and can easily see issues from different angles. This person also has the ability to convey his or her knowledge in a teaching/coaching way, to instruct and guide others so that they can develop themselves and their tasks.
  
  This is an interesting field (and great discussion) and one that I believe now more than ever particularly when combined with scenario development can add great value to both individuals and organizations.
  
  Richard Townsend http://www.orglearn.org/

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  73

  oliver@...

  10/09/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  Another core competency is humility.
  
  We may be able to name the core competencies for the next - well - 10 years or so.
  
  We have no idea what will happen by the middle or the end of the century.
  
  Maybe, people will have to get back to "fealty to a powerful lord and skill with a rapier."

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  74

  bilalbz

  11/04/09 | Report as spam

  RE: 5 Personal Core Competencies for the 21st Century

  very interesting article. and some really nice responses.
  too bad there are too many HR people with too much free time with their run-of-the-mill crap to add do it.