The Peter Principle

There is a theory in people management known as the “Peter Principle.”  I am not certain what the name is derived from. My assumption is the first person to speak about it may have been named Peter.  I am paraphrasing,  but  the Peter Principle suggests that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their “level of incompetence”: employees are promoted based on their success in previous roles until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one role do not necessarily translate to another. The Peter Principle is avoided by only promoting people once they are doing the work successfully. So, go do the work and then go review yourself in the work you’ve done.  This can be a challenge with employees who don’t understand the principle and want to achieve the next level before they have shown that they reached it.