It's not about being in charge, it's about taking care of the people in charge or in other words, you are not 'in charge' but responsible for the people who are 'in charge'. Partly due to the influence of today's society, they are so concerned with their status and position within a company that they forget their real job. I realize that this is a pithy statement, so I'd like to substantiate it. Statement: There are two things great leaders must have and what many leaders lack empathy and perspective. In a later stage of this blog I will come back to the connection with 'the Peter Principle'. Many companies are insufficiently aware of this, let alone that they look for opportunities to implement it. It's an open door to say that it should be. It surprised me that in my career as a trainer with companies, I've regularly dealt with subjects such as collaboration and trust, which actually implies that there's a chance that trust and collaboration are not a standard in these companies, or are insufficiently present or lacking. From that moment on, his usefulness to the organization rapidly decreases, if necessary until he makes a negative contribution to the organization (on balance). His (extra) skills or characteristics have apparently been overestimated. However, this process stops when the employee no longer satisfies the requirements after his promotion. If he also performs well in that next function, the way to a next higher function, if available, is again open. The 'mechanism' described by Peter works like this an employee who performs well in his first position within the hierarchy is in principle eligible for promotion to a higher position. 'In a hierarchy, each employee rises to his level of incompetence.' Peter died of complications from a stroke at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, California, at the age of 70. He proposed an award for the race titled 'The Golden Dinosaur Award,' which has been handed out every year since to the first sculptural machine to utterly break down immediately after the start. It is a heavily quoted principle at the USC Marshall School of Business.Īnother notable quotation of his is that the 'noblest of all dogs is the hot-dog it feeds the hand that bites it.'įrom 1985 to his death in 1990, Peter attended and was involved in management of the Kinetic Sculpture Race in Humboldt County, California.

Work is accomplished by those employees who have not yet reached their level of incompetence.' The Peter principle became one of the most profound principles of management from the University of Southern California (USC).

n time every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties. He became widely known in 1969 upon the publication of The Peter Principle, in which he states: 'In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. In 1966, Peter moved to California, where he became an Associate Professor of Education, Director of the Evelyn Frieden Centre for Prescriptive Teaching, and Coordinator of Programs for Emotionally Disturbed Children at the University of Southern California. He received the degree of Doctor of Education from Washington State University in 1963. Peter began his career as a teacher in Vancouver in 1941. Peter was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, the grandson of William Herbert Steves, the founder of Steveston, British Columbia.

Laurence j peter