Hierarchiology
From TIME:
“The ‘Peter Principle’ states that ‘in a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence; the cream rises until it sours.’ People who show competence are promoted whether or not they are qualified to perform competently at the next level. Eventually they go beyond their limits, become incompetent, and stop getting promoted. Macbeth, a success as a military commander, rose to become an incompetent king. Which is to say, ‘nothing fails like success.’
“Final Placement Syndrome is what the ordinary sociologist calls ’success’ …frustration occurs as a result of promotion, because most people who are promoted genuinely wish to be productive.”
Tea Berryonce made an observation along these lines: What if you are good at something but you don’t want to be promoted because then you will be distracted with managing people instead of actually being productive? There are people who are very smart and very skilled, but they don’t enjoy being “stage moms”. And then there are those who only bullshit their way through. The problem is, the PTBs only see the value of the bullshitter and not the talented, productive one. And so you accept the promotion because that’s the only way that you can get more perks.
My Zen master says: Practice still makes perfect. Patience is a virtue. Make frequent trips to the coffee dispenser.
