Why Do Incompetent Managers Get Promoted?

Two books — 45 years apart — explain it. If you want to get ahead, it’s time to face the facts.

Photo by JESHOOTS.COM on Unsplash

In 1969, a book called “The Peter Principle” was published. It was written by Raymond Hull, based on the research of Dr. Laurence J. Peter.

Dr. Peter found that “an employee is promoted based on their success in previous jobs, until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.”

He further theorized that given enough time and positions, “Every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties.”

Hence you end up with a whole bunch of incompetent managers on top.

I find the first point to be especially true when managers are hired in from other companies. Most corporate HR tend to put a lot of weight on a person’s CV and their past accomplishments when hiring for senior positions. Personally I think too little consideration is put into thinking about how the person will perform in future, especially if they’re changing industries or roles.

On the second point, I’m not sure if every post will end up being occupied by an incompetent manager, but I do think when a lot of managers realized they’ve hit their peak or comfort level, they then start to focus on playing politics instead of delivering results to hold onto their position. These are also the kind of managers who would only hire people less capable than them, for fear of being replaced.