Overview

     A truly effective person must have high character and high competence. In this section, you will learn how important character is and also how to enhance your competence through the process of LEAP.

No virtue is more universally accepted as a test of good character than trustworthiness.
Harry Emerson Fosdick

What is Character and Competence?

     What is Character and Competence? Character is actually the quality that makes someone different from other people. Here, I will be talking about good character, giving you a rough idea of what having a good character is all about.
     Firstly, what do you understand about good character? Does having a good character means having good behavior, or maybe having good moral values or perhaps it means having high integrity.
     The answer to the question is all of the above and more. Having a good character means having good qualities like self-discipline, care and concern for others (SP CORE). Of course, you do not need to posses  all of these qualities to be considered a person who has good character. It is quite rare to find people with all these qualities, remember, no one is perfect. If you have at least half of these qualities in the (SP CORE), then congratulations, you can be proud to say that you are of good character.
     Having a good character is important, no one would want to befriend someone with very bad character. A person with bad character could be despised or even hated. On the other hand, a person with good character would be admired and loved. Just take a look at Mother Theresa and Gandhi. Both of them are well respected for what they had done for their people.
     Now, lets move on to Competence. Actually, when I first look at the word "competence", I had no idea what this word means. So, I went to look for the dictionary and found the meaning. The definition of competence is :" having the ability or skill needed for something." So, to put it in simple words...

Competence = Desired Quality

So, it means if you are a president of a country, you should have high competence, otherwise your country would suffer! Competence is just as important as Character. Both of these qualities go hand in hand. Now, imagine that your boss is someone who has High Character but Low Competence, would you trust him to do a good job? Maybe, you might say. How about a boss who has Low Character and Low Competence? Would you even trust people like that?! Let me answer that for you. No chance in hell! Now, what about people who have both High Character and high Competence? Would you like to have a companion or a national leader who possess these qualities. The answer is obviously "YES!!!"

In today's society, even if you are someone who is very smart and talented but you have very bad character, employers might even have seconds thoughts on hiring you! I'm not saying that you have to be a saint in order to be liked by people. Come on, there's no such thing as a perferct character. There are bound to be flaws. Like I said before, if you are at least 70% good, I think that is already considered wonderful! Check out the Leap Process below if to find out how to maximize your competence.

The Leap Process

     So, you have a good character but you think you have low competence. Don't fret, I have the perfect solution for you. It's called the LEAP process. The LEAP process can help you maximize your competence. LEAP stands for Listen, Expand, Apply, Pass it!

1) Listen

Always listen to what others have to say. Learn the good things and remember them. Do you know why God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth. This is because he wants us to spend double the time listening then talking!

2) Expand

After learning the good things, you should expand it, make it better.Never stop trying to improve. For example, when the plane was first invented, people did not stop researching after that. Instead, they continue to do researches and now planes are becoming more advanced.

3) Apply

You should apply what you have learnt. It's no use just to read about it and then dump it in one corner of your mind and forget all about it! You should try it out! Make use of what you have learnt!

4) Pass it
Speak of your experiences to others. Pass it on so that they can learn too. Don't be selfish. Good things are to be shared among others! We should learn from each other experiences so that we can learn more!