The Peter Principle

[It's Me!]

Was listening to an NPR discussion a couple of weeks back and heard about this phenomenon called "The Peter Principle".

Essentially it says that people are promoted to the point where they become incompetent. I believe the official definition is: every member of a hierarchy will eventually rise to their level of incompetence, or final placement. This position is the furthest you can be promoted with the skills that you possess.

When I was growing up, I thought my parents and other adults had all the answers. They - for the most part - always seemed to know what to do in a situation. Then I grew up, and realized that most people have no fucking clue what they're doing. I am ashamed to admit that it really took a long time for me to come to grips with this, however most people are barely competent at work, most have no business having children, and some people are flat out wrong at almost everything. Hell, how many survived to adulthood is a mystery to me.

And it's pervasive in society. I don't think this is a socio-economic issue, but I wonder if this is a particularly pervasive issue in the United States where everyone believes that they're special, that the power of the individual is the greatest force out there. Do we breed better incompetents (and incompetence) here in the US?

[viscousmemories]

I had heard of "The Peter Principle" and I was familiar with the concept of people being promoted to the level of their incompetence, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you that the former was the name of the latter. I'll have to read more about it. But to the extent that it seems to be a feature of hierarchical systems generally I'm not sure it would be more or less common in a more communal culture unless heirarchy was done away with entirely. Then again I haven't slept much the past few days and I am not a doctor, so I might just be rambling.

[specious_reasons]

The Peter Principle is a cynical, satirical joke on workplace culture. It was a satire that resonated with a lot of people. My mom was a very intelligent person who got sandbagged by cultural expectations and routed into traditional "women's jobs." That also meant she was usually more capable than her own bosses. She referred to it a lot.

Pretty much much if you've had a boss or colleagues that lucked into higher positions, it rings true.

It's also not exactly true. Some people rise to significantly higher level roles than they ever were capable of – look at George W Bush or most of the Trumps. Some people find a career and level they're comfortable with and stay there. Sometimes I've been surprised by the depth of wisdom coming from people I'd assumed to be stupid and in dead-end jobs.

It's a good shorthand, but pretty limiting as a philosophy.

[It's Me!]

There's always a little bit of truth in every joke. Right?

I've been fortunate that I've had some good bosses in my time, and they've taken our training as professionals seriously, so I'm equipped to handle pretty much everything in my field. However, even with all of our training, I see the next steps up into administration as a "seat of your pants" operation where longevity is a primary qualification. In all my days of college, never once did I take a class on how to manage people. My boss made me take some supervisory classes once I got in this position, but the rest of our training focuses on the legal requirements and do's and don'ts. So sure, I know it's wrong to do X, Y, or Z ... but some (most?) situations aren't always black and white, and rather than rely on any training, I'm going to have to hope that my personal skills are up to par for the moment. In other words, I'm going to have to "wing it".

I'm also of the mind that I have no desire to rise further up in the ranks of my agency. A "promotion" to administration comes with no increase in salary, and I'm not keen on doing more work, that's less fun, for the same pay.

Originally Posted by specious_reasons

The Peter Principle is a cynical, satirical joke on workplace culture. It was a satire that resonated with a lot of people. My mom was a very intelligent person who got sandbagged by cultural expectations and routed into traditional "women's jobs." That also meant she was usually more capable than her own bosses. She referred to it a lot.

Pretty much much if you've had a boss or colleagues that lucked into higher positions, it rings true.

It's also not exactly true. Some people rise to significantly higher level roles than they ever were capable of – look at George W Bush or most of the Trumps. Some people find a career and level they're comfortable with and stay there. Sometimes I've been surprised by the depth of wisdom coming from people I'd assumed to be stupid and in dead-end jobs.

It's a good shorthand, but pretty limiting as a philosophy.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by It's Me!

Do we breed better incompetents (and incompetence) here in the US?

America is the imperial power right now with the most resources to breed incompetents. No secret sauce or exceptionalism needed.

[LarsMac]

At one time, I was offered a managerial position, but, recognized my potential to be a poster boy for the Peter Principle, and turned it down.

I never regretted that decision. They then found another guy in the company to take the job. He ran our department very well for ten years. He was perfect of the job.
We all moved on after the company was sold, but we still all get together every year or so for an "Company" outing.

[ShottleBop]

There was a sequel, called the "Peter Prescription."

https://vikramkarve.medium.com/the-p...n-9de7020a2a97

[Miss Shelby]

Of course I’ve heard of the Peter Principle. I thought everyone had. In
Nursing it’s not as obvious as to be labeled as such, but when practicing bedside nurses or charge nurses go into management level positions they lose their nursing skills. They have management responsibilities they learn but after time passes they’ve lost ALL
nursing skills and basically fall in line to the management mindset.

And they lose ALL perspective of how a nursing unit should run.

Honestly, this should probably not be a sociological thing that people hear on NPR. To me it is common sense.