The Peter Principle Why Things Always Go Wrong

Tony Blinken is a staff guy who in the old, you know, organization book, The Peter Principle by Dr. Peter, you rise up to your level of incompetence. Well, he's risen to beyond his level of incompetence, as has Jake Sullivan and several of the other people.

The Peter Principle states very simply that in any hierarchy an employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.

I'm sorry. As many times as I've heard that phrase, I still laugh at it just because it sounds like it's going to be not irreverent and then it turns immediately irreverent, which makes me chuckle.

Oh, exactly. I think it's a funny idea, but it also rings true. And it's funny in an unpleasant way because it reminds people how much they dislike their bosses.

I saw that very often the competent individual was promoted to something he couldn't do.

The book he wrote with Raymond Hull was called the Peter Principle, Why Things Always Go Wrong. It wound up selling millions of copies.

In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.

Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.