After all these years and after writing a book in 2006 about leadership competencies, I am still sorting through this issue. David McClelland wrote initially about competencies. One of his points was:

"McClelland did cluster personality or traits into competencies, rather than separate them into attributes. He did not believe in the saying “once a bigot, always a bigot.” Rather he wrote that there is no solid evidence that this trait of any other trait cannot be changed. Thus if you cannot find the people with all the competencies you need, you can always train or develop them (of course some competencies are a lot more easy to train or develop than others). In addition, you can grow the people you presently have."

So my view of competencies as well as McClelland's views leadership development as something worthwhile.

Consider the impact of a good competency model on a leadership development program.