Dedication and compassion, which he says are the main skills required, are not skills. They are dispositions, which of course are necessary. But it is dangerous to think that practitioners can rest on their personal qualities or years of experience.
A successful nursery staff leader has to gain a deep knowledge of how young children think and learn and continuously hone the skills to put the knowledge into practice. I have seen many dedicated, compassionate practitioners with years of experience being involved in very poor practice through their lack of knowledge and training and their low levels of basic education.
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