Are You At The Crossroads Of The 3 Seas That Will Elevate Your Game To The Next Level?

2. The (Hidden) Case Of Character.

Ahmadou DIALLO ✪
ILLUMINATION
Published in
5 min readApr 18, 2022

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“Don’t explain your philosophy. Embody it.”

Epictetus

How are you increasing your competence?

What character are you building in your life?

Will your actions pass the credibility test of time?

As I evolve in my career in a big company, I often ask myself:

Did I reach my level of Peter principle?

I am not able to have a clear answer to that question. As a learner, I believe there is much room for improvement.

“The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to “a level of respective incompetence”: employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.”

Source: Wikipedia

1. The Curse Of Competence.

I often feel like I miss more opportunities than I lack talent. The reason is that I feel like we are not exposed to the same opportunities because of many things.

Maybe there is a group bias among people providing opportunities, always giving opportunities to their likes.

Maybe there is a conscious or unconscious bias that we are comfortable with because we don’t want to face the truth about our shortcomings.

Long story short: people are often promoted because someone thinks that they are the most competent to hold the position.

Maybe we often hide the irrationality of our choices as decision-makers behind the reflector of competence.

Being competent is rooted in our capabilities to deliver tangible results that can be measured.

When we offer opportunities based solely on “competencies, we are just using a shortcut because we either don’t have the time to dig deeper or are too afraid to sneak a peek…

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Ahmadou DIALLO ✪
ILLUMINATION

🏆 Top Medium Writer in Ideas. I am a professional storyteller who can help you share your stories. Find out more here: https://www.madception.com