"In other words every incoming government needs 500 loyal and competent place-men and -women to take over at the top of the administration.
It has run as a very competent little place".
No wonder there's a fast and frantic attempt to put a competent leader in place.
For one thing, whether the project at hand is fiction or reportage, the novelist's interest in the situation wanes at that precise point when the reporter begins to consider himself competent: when the place is understood".
So Homes Under the Hammer is a bit like that, except it has three presenters – Lucy Alexander, Martin Roberts and Dion Dublin – who follow three developers, who are usually just boringly competent, buying the place at auction then emerging a few months later with a profit of 20 grand.
On Friday, Grayling seized on a report by the rail regulator, the Office of Rail and Road, which declared that Southern's driver-only operation would be safe, "with suitable equipment, proper procedures and competent staff in place", giving recommendations that Southern has promised to implement.
Based on input from employees we surveyed from a range of organizations, we found that leaders are perceived as competent when they place an emphasis on the future, on organizational outcomes, and on employees, as well as when they take action and launch initiatives, communicate effectively, and gain knowledge and experiences.
2. Like any CEO, a president must select competent people to place in positions of power.
My own sense is that President Jacob Zuma - a ditherer when it comes to policies, but a ruthlessly efficient and experienced master in the darker arts of political survival - would not have moved against Mr Malema if he didn't have a reasonably competent strategy in place.
Study participants spoke about how 'real learning', or the integration of theory into practice required for safe, competent practice, takes place in clinical practice settings, and they affirmed the importance of a strong patient safety culture in the teaching and learning environment.
