Truly Capable People Often Have These Traits — You Can Sense Them When You’re Together
Someone who is truly “capable” doesn’t necessarily have great power or wealth, because luck, opportunity, and environment all play crucial roles.
So how do you judge if someone is “capable” or not? There’s no denying that controlling objective material conditions makes it easier to judge capability, but how much meaning does that have? For those already in high positions with great power, it’s not as simple as just communicating with whoever you want — learning to “burn incense in silence” may be a good option.
If in your daily interactions, you can identify truly “capable” people around you and maintain good relationships with them, they may become your important connections in the future, or perhaps they just lack an opportunity.
So judging if someone is truly capable, you have to look not just at how many objective material conditions they currently control, but also whether they’ll be able to control more in the future. The following criteria are worth considering:
1. Confident But Not Arrogant
I used to brag about my abilities even though I didn’t have much experience. After failing badly on a work project, I realized I needed to develop true confidence through effort and skills, not arrogance.
People with ability have confidence, while those without blindly believe in themselves — that’s arrogance.
Confidence comes from ability, and ability comes from daily accumulation and effort. Like in school, diligent studying means natural composure and calmness during exams, and trusting in your efforts — exams are just quantifying your abilities.
Blind confidence is arrogance. No accumulation yet still feeling strong, like having a bank card with no PIN but still feeling rich — until you need money and realize you’re not as wealthy as imagined.
The stronger your abilities, the more confident you become. Your abilities are something no one can take away, like education, knowledge, and skills…once obtained, no one can take these things away.
Some things that seem to reflect ability can be taken away at any time, like job positions — they may show capability but could be removed or replaced. Personal abilities are different — they don’t come from others, and once gained, no one can take them away.
2. Insightful But Not Revealing
At a meeting, I noticed my coworker presenting inaccurate data to support his proposal. Instead of calling him out on it there, I decided to discuss the issues with him privately later.
Most capable people have considerable insight, but they see through things without saying it outright, even laughing it off.
Some people are insightful but always expose it. Like when they discover someone deceiving them, they have to point it out: “Little one, with your intellect still trying to fool me? I already saw through you long ago.”
Truly capable people, when discovering deception, still act very appreciative, saying something like: “Let me think it over and I’ll get back to you.” Then don’t answer — that’s the best response.
Exposing that you already saw through things only prompts people to change their tricks. It doesn’t benefit you at all and even increases unknown risks. In other words: “It’s easier to be a thief for a thousand days than guard against a thief for a thousand days.”
Also, when discovering workplace issues, some people point them out directly or report them to leadership, while truly capable people first consider how to solve the problem, prepare a solution, and reveal it at the right time to better demonstrate their value.
3. Has a Temper But Can Control It
When a rude customer provoked me, I took a deep breath instead of losing my temper. Controlling my emotions allowed me to handle the situation professionally.
Some say: “Capable people all have tempers.” This seems to make sense, but ignores the real issue — is it capability that leads to temper, or does temper inherently exist? Control is key.
For most people, temper is venting emotions, but for truly capable people, it’s a “tool.”
Endure when needed absolutely, and never vent when shouldn’t. It’s undeniable that anger conveys a firm attitude.
Whether capable or not, temper is inherent in people, the difference is some vent emotions while others use temper to achieve goals. Not revealing joy or anger comes down to whether it’s worthwhile.
4. Kind to People, Harsh on Matters
As a manager, I take time to ask about my team members’ lives and offer encouragement. But I’m also strict about enforcing quality standards — I know we have to deliver excellent work.
General sucked the pus from soldiers’ boils, showing kindness so they’d follow him. People have emotions — if you’re good to them, they’ll naturally feel it, and at least be willing to interact with you.
But capable people also have a harsh side. Despite loving soldiers like sons, the General did allow retreating when giving the charge order.
For truly capable people, kindness to people and harshness on matters is the hallmark. Some leaders buddy up with subordinates, calling them brothers and friends, trying to play the emotional card. But when it matters, orders aren’t followed, prohibitions aren’t observed, and things don’t go as envisioned.
Kindness to people, and harshness on matters — the two complement each other, inseparable. Once separated, the outcome isn’t hard to judge.
5. Persistent But Not Obsessive
I insisted we keep using the old software system at first. But when it was clear the new update was vastly better, I admitted I was wrong and supported transitioning.
Capable people have their persistence, as people say: “Persistence is victory.” Many only shallowly dabble and then give up, never going deep, before abandoning it. Lacking persistence means falling short of capability.
Capable people may not succeed at everything they try, but they persist more than others — that’s their quality, firmly sticking to things they commit to.
Of course, if the initial choice was wrong, they won’t stubbornly persist. Some people know they’re wrong but keep insisting — that’s already obsession.
This is the inability to let go of what they’ve grabbed. Truly capable people can both hold on and let go. When unable to grab on, they don’t insist they must grab on. Even when grabbing on, they understand letting go.
100% effort when persisting, and absolutely no hesitation when giving up.
6. Brave But Not Reckless
I nervously volunteered to take on the international sales project. I know taking risks is how I’ll gain the experience I need to advance in my career. But I’m doing careful research to avoid reckless decisions.
This includes three aspects:
- Courage to face challenges — life always brings all kinds of challenges, some you excel at, others you don’t. Continuously improving yourself through challenges, and things you weren’t good at can become strengths.
- Courage to take responsibility — dare to face problems directly and take responsibility. After all, responsibility and power are inextricably linked — one can’t avoid problems then shirk responsibility and still be psychologically strong, even if appearing capable on the surface.
- Bravery to break rules — the strong make rules, and the weak adapt to them. Blindly following rules that disadvantage you will only clarify your weakness. So breaking rules also marks capable people.
Being brave is not that hard, but avoiding recklessness is difficult — it’s easy to deny others, but hard to deny yourself. Reckless bravery is reckless action.
Some say: “Wealth and rank are sought among dangers” — as if daring brings bravery. But they ignore the next part: “Wealth and rank are sought among dangers, and also lost among dangers — a 10% chance of gaining, but a 90% chance of losing.”
Looking ahead is human nature. People often see those already successful and “capable”, while overlooking those with potential around them. Truly capable people can be sensed when interacting daily. But “motivated cognition” makes people tend to believe what they want, overlooking the qualities capable people possess.
