In 30 seconds
- Lominger competencies are 67 leadership skills used to hire, assess, and develop leaders. Examples include Decision Quality, Listening, and Drive for Results.
- Who created them: Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger, who founded Lominger in 1991.
- How they are grouped: six clusters, which are Strategic Skills, Operating Skills, Courage, Energy and Drive, Organizational Positioning Skills, and Personal and Interpersonal Skills.
- Korn Ferry bought Lominger in 2006 and later updated the model into the Korn Ferry Leadership Architect, which has 38 competencies.
- How they are assessed: VOICES 360, where a leader is rated by themselves, their manager, peers and direct reports.
- How to use them: pick a short list for each role, assess it with 360 feedback, build a development plan, and check progress every 6 to 12 months.
- What you get here: all 67 competencies with simple definitions, plus a free PDF of the full list.
What are the 67 Lominger competencies?
The 67 Lominger competencies are a research-based catalog of the skills and behaviors that separate effective leaders from average ones. Each competency describes one observable behavior, such as Decision Quality or Composure, and the 67 are sorted into six clusters so teams can focus on the skills a specific role needs.
Michael M. Lombardo and Robert W. Eichinger founded Lominger in 1991 and built the model from their research into how managers learn, grow, and derail. They paired it with a development guide, FYI: For Your Improvement, which gives practical tips for building each competency.
The six clusters are:
- Strategic Skills (12 competencies)
- Operating Skills (13 competencies)
- Courage (7 competencies)
- Energy and Drive (3 competencies)
- Organizational Positioning Skills (6 competencies)
- Personal and Interpersonal Skills (26 competencies)
Organizations use the model to write role profiles, structure interviews, run 360 feedback, plan succession, and build individual development plans. It works best as a library you choose from, not a checklist every leader must master. If you are new to the idea of competencies in general, start with our guide on what competencies are.
The 67 Lominger competencies, defined
The table below lists all 67 Lominger competencies with a one-line definition for each, grouped by the six clusters. Use it as a quick reference when you build role profiles, write 360 questions, or plan development conversations. Competency names follow the original Lominger model, which Korn Ferry now owns.
Competency names: Lominger model, Korn Ferry. Definitions are our own plain-English summaries, not Korn Ferry’s official text.
| # | Competency | Cluster | One-line definition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Business Acumen | Strategic Skills | Understands how the business makes money and what drives its results. |
| 2 | Functional/Technical Skills | Strategic Skills | Has the job-specific knowledge and skills needed to perform at a high level. |
| 3 | Technical Learning | Strategic Skills | Picks up new technical knowledge and tools quickly. |
| 4 | Decision Quality | Strategic Skills | Makes sound decisions based on analysis, experience, and judgment. |
| 5 | Intellectual Horsepower | Strategic Skills | Grasps complex ideas fast and works through hard problems with ease. |
| 6 | Learning on the Fly | Strategic Skills | Learns quickly in unfamiliar situations and tries new approaches. |
| 7 | Problem Solving | Strategic Skills | Finds the root cause of a problem and produces workable solutions. |
| 8 | Dealing with Ambiguity | Strategic Skills | Stays effective and decisive when information is incomplete or things keep changing. |
| 9 | Creativity | Strategic Skills | Generates fresh ideas and makes new connections between existing ones. |
| 10 | Innovation Management | Strategic Skills | Turns new ideas into products, services, or processes that succeed. |
| 11 | Perspective | Strategic Skills | Looks at issues broadly and brings a wide view of trends and possibilities. |
| 12 | Strategic Agility | Strategic Skills | Anticipates future trends and turns them into a competitive strategy. |
| 13 | Timely Decision Making | Operating Skills | Makes decisions promptly, even under time pressure and with incomplete data. |
| 14 | Priority Setting | Operating Skills | Focuses time and energy on what matters most and cuts the rest. |
| 15 | Organizing | Operating Skills | Arranges people, resources, and activities so work gets done efficiently. |
| 16 | Planning | Operating Skills | Sets goals, milestones, and schedules, and anticipates obstacles. |
| 17 | Time Management | Operating Skills | Uses time well and gets more done in less time. |
| 18 | Delegation | Operating Skills | Shares tasks and decision authority so others can own results. |
| 19 | Developing Direct Reports and Others | Operating Skills | Builds people’s skills through stretch assignments, coaching, and feedback. |
| 20 | Directing Others | Operating Skills | Sets clear direction, assigns work well, and keeps people focused. |
| 21 | Informing | Operating Skills | Gives people the information they need to do their jobs, on time. |
| 22 | Managing and Measuring Work | Operating Skills | Assigns clear responsibility, sets measures, and tracks progress. |
| 23 | Process Management | Operating Skills | Designs and improves processes so work gets done with less effort. |
| 24 | Managing Through Systems | Operating Skills | Builds systems and policies that let work run well without constant oversight. |
| 25 | Total Work Systems | Operating Skills | Applies quality and continuous improvement methods, such as TQM or Six Sigma, to meet customer needs. |
| 26 | Command Skills | Courage | Takes charge in a crisis and rallies people around a course of action. |
| 27 | Conflict Management | Courage | Addresses conflict directly and turns disagreements into workable agreements. |
| 28 | Confronting Direct Reports | Courage | Deals with performance problems promptly, firmly, and fairly. |
| 29 | Managerial Courage | Courage | Says what needs to be said, gives candid feedback, and voices unpopular views. |
| 30 | Standing Alone | Courage | Stands up for a position and takes responsibility, even when others disagree. |
| 31 | Hiring and Staffing | Courage | Spots and hires strong talent and builds capable teams. |
| 32 | Sizing Up People | Courage | Judges people’s strengths, limits, and potential accurately. |
| 33 | Action Oriented | Energy and Drive | Takes initiative, moves with energy, and seizes opportunities. |
| 34 | Perseverance | Energy and Drive | Keeps pushing toward a goal despite setbacks and resistance. |
| 35 | Drive for Results | Energy and Drive | Consistently hits targets and holds high standards for self and others. |
| 36 | Organizational Agility | Organizational Positioning Skills | Knows how the organization works and gets things done through formal and informal channels. |
| 37 | Political Savvy | Organizational Positioning Skills | Reads organizational politics accurately and navigates them without playing games. |
| 38 | Presentation Skills | Organizational Positioning Skills | Presents clearly and confidently to groups of any size. |
| 39 | Written Communications | Organizational Positioning Skills | Writes clearly and concisely for different audiences. |
| 40 | Career Ambition | Organizational Positioning Skills | Knows what they want from their career and takes active steps to get there. |
| 41 | Comfort Around Higher Management | Organizational Positioning Skills | Works with senior leaders confidently and without undue tension. |
| 42 | Approachability | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Is easy to talk to, puts others at ease, and invites open conversation. |
| 43 | Interpersonal Savvy | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Builds constructive relationships with people at all levels. |
| 44 | Caring About Direct Reports | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Shows real interest in team members’ work, growth, and well-being. |
| 45 | Compassion | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Shows empathy and support for people facing difficulties. |
| 46 | Boss Relationships | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Builds a productive, two-way working relationship with their manager. |
| 47 | Customer Focus | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Understands customer needs and works to meet and exceed them. |
| 48 | Managing Diversity | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Treats people from all backgrounds fairly and draws value from their differences. |
| 49 | Fairness to Direct Reports | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Treats every team member equitably and consistently. |
| 50 | Peer Relationships | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Collaborates well with peers and earns their trust and cooperation. |
| 51 | Understanding Others | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Understands why groups behave as they do and works with them effectively. |
| 52 | Motivating Others | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Creates a climate in which people want to do their best work. |
| 53 | Negotiating | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Reaches agreements that work for both sides while protecting key interests. |
| 54 | Building Effective Teams | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Forms teams with shared goals, strong morale, and clear roles. |
| 55 | Managing Vision and Purpose | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Communicates a compelling vision that inspires people to act. |
| 56 | Ethics and Values | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Holds firm principles and acts on them consistently. |
| 57 | Integrity and Trust | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Is honest, keeps confidences, and is widely trusted. |
| 58 | Composure | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Stays calm and in control under pressure. |
| 59 | Humor | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Uses appropriate humor to ease tension and build rapport. |
| 60 | Listening | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Listens attentively and understands what others mean. |
| 61 | Patience | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Gives people and processes time to work before stepping in. |
| 62 | Personal Disclosure | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Shares their thoughts, feelings, and mistakes openly. |
| 63 | Dealing with Paradox | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Balances opposing demands, such as being tough and compassionate, with ease. |
| 64 | Personal Learning | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Seeks feedback and changes their behavior based on it. |
| 65 | Self-Development | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Works actively to build their own skills and close gaps. |
| 66 | Self-Knowledge | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Knows their own strengths, weaknesses, and limits. |
| 67 | Work/Life Balance | Personal and Interpersonal Skills | Keeps a healthy balance between work and personal life. |
The six Lominger competency clusters explained
The Lominger model sorts its 67 competencies into six clusters: Strategic Skills, Operating Skills, Courage, Energy and Drive, Organizational Positioning Skills, and Personal and Interpersonal Skills. Each cluster describes one dimension of leadership, so you can see at a glance where a leader is strong and where they need development.
Strategic Skills (12)
Strategic Skills cover how a leader thinks about the business and its future: understanding how the company makes money, solving hard problems, and shaping strategy. Examples: Business Acumen, Dealing with Ambiguity, Strategic Agility.
Operating Skills (13)
Operating Skills cover how work gets done day to day: planning, setting priorities, organizing resources, delegating, and improving processes. Examples: Priority Setting, Delegation, Process Management.
Courage (7)
Courage covers the willingness to take hard stands: addressing poor performance, managing conflict, and making tough calls about people. Examples: Managerial Courage, Conflict Management, Sizing Up People.
Energy and Drive (3)
Energy and Drive is the smallest cluster. It covers initiative, persistence, and a steady focus on results. Examples: Action Oriented, Perseverance, Drive for Results.
Organizational Positioning Skills (6)
Organizational Positioning Skills cover how a leader operates inside the organization: reading its politics, communicating upward, and presenting ideas well. Examples: Organizational Agility, Political Savvy, Comfort Around Higher Management.
Personal and Interpersonal Skills (26)
Personal and Interpersonal Skills is the largest cluster. It covers relationships, character, and self-awareness, from how a leader treats their team to how well they know themselves. Examples: Integrity and Trust, Listening, Self-Knowledge.
Lominger and the Korn Ferry Leadership Architect
Lominger was founded in 1991 by Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger, and Korn Ferry acquired the company in 2006. Korn Ferry later updated the 67-competency model into the Korn Ferry Leadership Architect, a framework of 38 competencies. Many organizations still use the original 67, which is why both names appear in HR teams today.
When people search for Korn Ferry competencies today, they usually find the 38 Leadership Architect competencies, grouped under four factors: Thought, Results, People, and Self. The update merged overlapping skills and renamed others. For example, Dealing with Ambiguity became Manages Ambiguity, Building Effective Teams became Builds Effective Teams, and Managing Vision and Purpose became Drives Vision and Purpose. Decision Quality and Action Oriented kept their names.
| Attribute | Lominger competencies | Korn Ferry Leadership Architect |
|---|---|---|
| Owner | Lominger (acquired by Korn Ferry in 2006) | Korn Ferry |
| Number of competencies | 67 | 38 |
| Top-level structure | 6 clusters | 4 factors: Thought, Results, People, Self |
| 360 assessment | Lominger VOICES 360 | Updated Korn Ferry VOICES 360 |
| Development guide | FYI: For Your Improvement | Updated FYI edition |
| Status | Legacy model, still widely used | Korn Ferry’s current framework |
Sources: Korn Ferry Leadership Architect and Korn Ferry’s legacy competency mapping.
If your organization already uses the 67, you do not need to switch. Korn Ferry publishes a legacy mapping that links each Lominger competency to its Korn Ferry Leadership Architect equivalent, so you can move over later without losing past assessment data.
Lominger VOICES 360 assessment
VOICES 360 is the multi-rater feedback assessment Lominger built on its competency library. A leader is rated on selected competencies by themselves, their manager, peers, direct reports, and others. The report compares those views to show strengths, blind spots, and the competencies most worth developing. How a VOICES 360 assessment works:
- Pick the competencies. The organization chooses the competencies that matter for the leader’s role, either from the full 67 or a shorter role profile.
- Invite raters. The leader rates themselves, and feedback is collected from their manager, peers, direct reports, and sometimes customers.
- Collect ratings. Each rater scores the leader on every selected competency and can add written comments. Ratings from peers and direct reports are grouped to protect anonymity.
- Compare perspectives. The report sets self-ratings against everyone else’s, which surfaces hidden strengths (rated higher by others) and blind spots (rated higher by the leader).
- Plan development. The leader and a coach or manager pick one or two gaps and build a plan, often using FYI: For Your Improvement.
Korn Ferry later released an updated VOICES 360 aligned with the 38 Leadership Architect competencies. The underlying method has not changed: choose competencies, gather ratings from several perspectives, and turn the gaps into goals. You can apply the same approach with any competency-based 360. For question ideas, see these 360 feedback examples.
Download the 67 Lominger competencies list (PDF)
You can download all 67 Lominger competencies, with their clusters and one-line definitions, as a free PDF. It is the same list as the table above, formatted for printing, sharing with your team, or using in a competency workshop. There is no form to fill in.
What is in the download:
- All 67 competencies with plain-English definitions
- The six clusters, with the number of competencies in each
- A “Priority for this role” column to mark the competencies you want to assess
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Get the free 67 Lominger competencies list
All 67 competencies, the six clusters, and plain-English definitions in one printable PDF. No sign-up needed.
How to use the Lominger competencies
Using the Lominger competencies comes down to four steps: select the competencies that matter for a role, assess current levels, build targeted development, and measure progress. Working from a short, role-specific list, rather than all 67, keeps assessments focused and gives leaders goals they can act on.
- Select the competencies for each role. Start from what the role must deliver, then pick a short list, roughly 8 to 12 competencies, that separates strong performers from average ones. Involve senior leaders so the list reflects real work. Write a few observable behaviors for each competency at each level, from individual contributor to executive. A competency matrix makes this easy to lay out.
- Assess current levels. Combine a self-assessment, a manager assessment, and 360 feedback from peers and direct reports. Several perspectives reduce the bias of any single rater.
- Build targeted development. Choose one or two gaps per person, not ten. Lombardo and Eichinger are also known for the 70-20-10 view of development, which favors stretch assignments and on-the-job experience, supported by coaching and formal learning.
- Measure progress. Reassess on a fixed cycle, such as every 6 or 12 months, and compare results with the baseline. Link changes to decisions you already track, such as promotions, internal moves, and succession readiness.
Common challenges with Lominger competencies and how to fix them
The most common problems with Lominger competencies are low leader buy-in, too many competencies in play, vague behavior definitions, biased ratings, and no clear way to show impact. Each has a practical fix, and most come down to keeping the model short, specific to each role, and tied to real people decisions.
| Challenge | How to address it |
|---|---|
| Low leader buy-in | Leaders see it as “another HR framework.” Let them help choose the competencies, and use the competencies in hiring, promotion, and succession decisions so they carry weight. |
| Too many competencies | Limit each role to a short list and park the rest. Nobody can develop 67 skills at the same time. |
| Abstract definitions | Write observable behaviors for each competency at each level, so raters know what “good” looks like. |
| Biased or inflated ratings | Use several rater groups, keep peer and direct report feedback anonymous, and brief raters before each cycle. |
| Feels dated vs Korn Ferry’s 38 | Keep the 67 if they work for you, or use Korn Ferry’s legacy mapping to move to the Leadership Architect over time. |
| Impact is hard to prove | Set a baseline, reassess on a fixed cycle, and connect results to promotion, retention, and performance data you already collect. |
Tools to assess Lominger competencies
The practical way to use Lominger competencies at scale is to assess them through 360 feedback and track each person’s development over time. Spreadsheets work for a small pilot, but software makes it easier to run review cycles, collect ratings from several raters, and compare results from one cycle to the next. What to look for in a tool:
- Custom competency frameworks. You can load your chosen Lominger or Korn Ferry competencies and set different ones for different roles.
- Multi-rater feedback. Self, manager, peer, and direct report input in one cycle.
- Anonymity controls. You decide which feedback is anonymous and who sees what.
- Gap reporting. Reports that show where self-ratings and others’ ratings differ.
- A link to development. Competency gaps flow into development plans, not a PDF that gets filed away.
- Low friction for raters. Feedback requests that reach people where they already work.
Peoplebox’s 360 feedback software supports role-based competency frameworks, feedback from self, peers, managers, and direct reports, anonymity settings by cycle, question, or role, and results that flow into individual development plans. Because it sits inside the wider performance management platform, competency results sit next to reviews and goals. For a broader comparison of options, see our guide to competency management software.
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See how Peoplebox runs 360 reviews on the competencies you choose and turns each gap into a development plan.
Updated October 2026: We added a full table of all 67 Lominger competencies with plain-English definitions, explained the link to the Korn Ferry Leadership Architect, added a section on VOICES 360, and included a free downloadable PDF and an FAQ. We also added Confronting Direct Reports, which the earlier list missed.
Lominger competencies: key takeaways
The Lominger competencies are 67 defined leadership behaviors in six clusters, created by Michael Lombardo and Robert Eichinger and now carried forward by Korn Ferry as the Leadership Architect.
This guide gave you the full defined list, the six clusters, how the model maps to Korn Ferry’s 38 competencies, how VOICES 360 assesses it, and a downloadable PDF to share with your team.
The next step is to put a short list of competencies to work. Peoplebox helps HR teams run competency-based 360 feedback and turn the gaps into development plans, so each review cycle shows whether your leaders are growing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Lominger interview process?
The Lominger interview process is structured behavioral interviewing against selected Leadership Architect competencies, using set questions and scoring guides for each one. Interviewers ask for past examples, rate the evidence against defined behaviors, and often add questions on learning agility.
What are Lominger competencies dealing with ambiguity?
Dealing with ambiguity is a Lominger competency covering how comfortably someone acts without the full picture, changes direction when priorities shift, and tolerates uncertainty. It sits under Strategic Skills in the 67-competency list and is a strong signal of readiness for senior roles.
What is the Lominger learning agility model?
The Lominger learning agility model, developed by Lombardo and Eichinger, measures four factors: mental agility, people agility, change agility, and results agility. Korn Ferry later added self-awareness as a fifth. It predicts who performs well in unfamiliar, first-time situations.
What is the Lominger standard?
There is no formal Lominger standard: the phrase usually refers to the Leadership Architect library being used as a default reference for defining and rating leadership behavior. Korn Ferry now maintains it as 38 competencies rather than the original 67, so check which version is meant.
How to Leverage Lominger Competencies to Improve Leadership Development?
Use Lominger competencies for leadership development by picking six to eight tied to strategy, assessing leaders against them via 360 feedback, then building development plans. Measure progress with follow-up assessments and business metrics such as retention, not course completion.
How to leverage Lominger competencies?
Beyond development, Lominger competencies are leveraged in hiring, succession planning, and performance reviews, giving each process the same behavioral language and rating scale. The common failure is adopting too many at once, so pick a small set and involve managers in choosing it.
