The Glorious Table: Are You Living by the Peter Principle?

Are You Living by the Peter Principle?

The Peter Principle is a concept which asserts that people will rise to their greatest level of incompetence.

My husband, who was in the military for seven years, has seen this demonstrated often. It is a common occurrence within hierarchical organizations. An employee continues to be promoted because of their success at past jobs. Promotion keeps occurring until, ultimately, they find themselves at a level they just aren’t good at. Once they reach incompetence, the promotions stop, but they are allowed to remain incompetent one level beyond where they would be successful.

An example: I was a high school basketball coach. I coached freshmen. Then I coached junior varsity. Then the head coach left, and I was expected to take the job.

Only I didn’t want it.

Actually, I refused to take it.

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