A couple weeks ago, I was preparing my notes to have performance appraisal reviews with my team members. As I was going through stakeholder feedback and reflecting upon how the past year helped us all grow and develop and become an even better professional, a question crossed my mind: Which is absolutely necessary to have – CONFIDENCE or COMPETENCE? So I decided to do my research through all aspects of my own life, my professional experiences and what lessons have we learned through The Quran and The Hadith.

As I reflected through my past experiences, I saw all types of people – those that reflected confidence vs those that reflected competence. In some instances I saw people reflecting both. However, each of these were impacting the situations around them differently and additionally were themselves impacted differently as well. Through this and my additional research I came across several examples that helped me come to some concrete conclusion of my own which is as follows:

Confidence without competence is actually risky and could at times prove to be harmful to the person and to people around them. One simple example of this is – if someone boasts about how good they are at driving a car just to impress their friend circle but don’t actually know the ins and outs of the car, whether it is auto or manual or know how to maneuver the car around traffic or tricky turns, they could end up hurting themselves or others with and around them.

Competence without confidence isn’t risky however it can easily go unnoticed. A person may have excellent data science or analytical skills or could be a brilliant mathematician or scientist, however if they are shy of speaking up and sharing their knowledge, or due to lack of confidence, afraid to take on a challenge that actually can help showcase their skills to others around them, then it is a missed opportunity. And if this keeps on happening repeatedly, it may hurt people’s self-esteem, which may push people towards depression. If one ever finds themselves at this juncture in life, Salah and reading Quran will most certainly pull you out of the this state and put your mind and heart at ease and also give you the confidence you need to build to face the world.

Hence we see that Confidence and Competence both are necessary for one to strike that balance in life.

However, it doesn’t stop there. What is of utmost importance is HUMILITY! Without Humility, one cannot achieve the success and excellence they aim for. Confidence and Competence without humility is arrogance. Arrogance leads you down the wrong path of self-absorption and narcissism, which in turn leads you to the depths of despair.

We all know that our beloved Prophet Muhammad SAW had the confidence and the competence that Allah SWT bestowed upon him. At the same time, he was the most humble person one could have ever met. And it was this humility that helped him win over hearts of scores of people and be revered by all.

Hence I conclude: Confidence and Competence with Humility is the key to success and excellence in life!