The Peter Principle, for those who don’t know, is the theory postulated by Lawerance Peter that organizations will promote an employee to his (or her) level of incompetence and leave him there. The claim being that he won’t be promoted any further and the company won’t fire him. This theory is accepted as a given without critical thought, and although there is a kernel of truth to it, I don’t completely buy into it. There are at least three things Mr. Peter, and his acolytes. don’t considered.
When I was a young Major in the Air Force I looked around and realized I was not going to make General because I was not a pilot, I was not a decorated war hero, and I had never been a general’s aid. At least one if not more of those things were required to make General. When a pointed this out another officer said, “You’ve seen what generals have to do. Do you really want that job?” I had to admit I didn’t. That is one thing that keeps people from getting promoted. They don’t want it. They enjoy what they’re doing and see the hassles their bosses have to handle, and they don’t want it. They do their job but just don’t go the extra mile to be promoted.
A corollary to this is that competence is not a binary thing. It’s a sliding scale. Few are completely competent or completely incompetent. It isn’t a binary switch. The military rates their officers and enlisted on five levels: unsatisfactory, marginal, satisfactory, excellent, and outstanding. Most people go for satisfactory with an occasional excellent. That is good enough for them to keep their job and still have a life. To go to the level of outstanding means one’s career has to be all-consuming. That entails working ten to twelve hours a day at least six days a week. You may even have to work on Sunday, and if not then you’re catching up on your sleep. This means missing birthdays, holidays, not seeing your kids’ school plays and events, this could even mean being a complete stranger to your family and divorce. Most people want their careers to be a part of their life, not their whole life. So, most people shoot for a job and not a career. This allows them to have a life outside of their jobs.
The “Peter Principle” also doesn’t consider the learning curve. People can, and do, enter a position being incompetent and gain competence. This is done by extra study, seeking help, taking a mentor’s suggestions, or just the hard knocks of experience. Incompetence is not necessarily a terminal disease.
The last thing he didn’t consider was right-sizing. Every organization sooner or later flushes out its dead wood. If they don’t the organization dies. Eventually an incompetent will be removed from his position and will generally go to another company where he steps back down to a job he can handle.
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