“In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence.” Peter Principle

The original Peter Principle made perfect sense for the industrial age: “In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to their level of incompetence.”

In other words, organizations keep promoting people up the organization until the people they promote reach a job where they are now incompetent.

Competence compounded until it turns into widespread incompentence.

Industrial organizations are built on competence, and the Peter Principle describes their undoing.

Consider a corollary, one for our times:

“To be promoted beyond your level of confidence.”

Too often, the person who wrecks our work is us.

In every modern organization with upward mobility, good people are promoted until they get to the point where they lose their nerve.

You can check out the original Peter Principle here.

Note: It makes perfect sense. How can any one promoted to chief through a hierarchy is able to stay abreast of new knowledge and technology while squeezed under heavy stress?

That is why sabbaticals were innovated in order to allow people in the profession to take a healthy break from the humdrum of daily activities and get updated on the quality of experiences he had witnessed.