Competence

Just an example I ran across in a book recently of how circumstances can make someone seem excellent or incompetent.

He lay there feeling sorry for himself, musing on how being around a bunch off twenty-five-year-olds made him act like a twelve-year-old, whereas when he was working across the river, truly working, he felt centered and unself-conscious, his deepest talents sometimes emerging quick and true.

- From Clockers, by Richard Price.

A manager's job is to identify and try to create the context that enables people's excellence to emerge.