Illusion of competence

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The illusion of competence: sometimes we see a lion in the mirror when the world sees a cat

Warren Buffett famously said, “Know your circle of competence, and stick within it. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.”

While what he says is thought provoking, what it does not account for is the illusion of competence. What is the measure of competence, and how do we really know its boundaries? Very often we see investors who are self-professed “experts” and who, by that reckoning, claim competency. In an age of incompetence, the ordinary can easily appear extraordinary.

This illusion of competence is far more dangerous than acknowledged incompetence. It is dangerous because the incompetent soon develop defence mechanisms of being nice, sociable, kind, and charming, basically falling in line to ensure acceptability in society. When enough people begin to do that, the path to mediocrity, even idiocracy, slowly gets established.

Those who have read Ayn Rand will know how much she despised incompetence. In her own words:
“I think it’s probably the only thing I do hate. But it didn’t make me want to rule people, nor to teach them anything. It made me want to do my own work in my own way and let myself be torn to pieces if necessary.”

Success can be one yardstick of competence, but it is not easy to stand firmly on one's own record. We may be able to fake success before a ready audience, but rarely before our own eyes. Most of us tend to be harder on ourselves than on others.

It reminds me of the famous lines from Alice in Wonderland. Lewis Carroll cleverly makes the point that to really get somewhere, one has to keep working constantly, otherwise one remains exactly where one is.

“It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!”

You may also want to read my piece on:  Weekend Musings: What Wealth Cannot Buy, and Poverty Cannot Steal

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