This article outlines a theoretical understanding of competence as

the inferred potential for desirable activity within a professional practice. By employing the

concept of ‘teleoaffective structure’ as developed, our study investigates how notions of

competent and excellent professionals are defined in two separate practices in which highly

qualified professionals share formal qualifications. The study is comparative and based on a

total of 39 interviews carried out in the Philippine National Police and with recruiters of medical

interns (doctors) in Philippine healthcare. Results indicate that,despite obvious differences

between the professional groups in the study, some remarkable similarities are apparent in what

are regarded as high levels of competence. Surprisingly, technical expertise was downplayed as

an indicator of high levels of competence in both practices. The professional groups

emphasized flexibility, drive/ambition and social competence, as well as the ability to balance

between being highly capable and being humble before others, including other groups of

professionals as characteristics of excellence. Based on the results, the authors discuss a ‘logic

of excellence’ that can be used to describe mechanisms of competence differentiation in

professional practices from a PNP perspective.