Escaping the incompetence trap: My flirtations with the “Peter Principle”​

Ok, Then you have reached your level of incompetence

I was 15 when I first heard of “The Peter principle”. After a particularly grueling debating session where how much ever I tried, I was out of my depth, was defeated, and torn apart to pieces. I came home and lamented to Dad with all my teen angst. “I was supposed to be good at this. But then, here I seem to be completely out of my depth”. That’s when he uttered the above sentence and introduced me to the Peter Principle.

It’s been over a decade since that fateful day. The understanding of the Peter principle made sure I was always ahead of the competition since then.

But first, what is the Peter Principle?

Peter Principle states that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their “level of incompetence”. In other words, 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[1]

For example, A software engineer who is extremely good at his/her job will not be the right fit for a project manager. But in most scenarios, the ladder of growth or profession in any corporate firm starts from Individual contributor to team leader. There is no in-between. Except for certain roles in academia and R&D 99% of career paths happen in this fashion.

Most promotions in the corporate world happen because you are good at your current job and have shown exemplary results there. You are not judged on whether you will do the future job well. Peter Principle states that one day you will reach the point where you will reach a position where you will not be able to fulfill the job requirements. You will be unsuccessful at that job role and that according to the Peter Principle is your point of incompetence.

To understand more about what Peter Principle is, I suggest you have a look at the video below:

As you can see, there are two stakeholders who get affected by the Peter Principle. The company and the individual. In this article, I focus more on the individual and will talk about my personal experiences with the Peter Principle.

My Flirtations with the Peter Principle

After flirting with the Peter Principle for the first time when I was 15, I continued to encounter it all through my college years and corporate life. After more than a decade of knowing what Peter’s principle meant, I learned that it is an omnipresent beast and that your life will always be a never-ending race against it. In other words, stay ahead of the Peter Principle or you risk being irrelevant.

But then, over the course of the last decade, I have learned a few tricks and these tricks were how I escaped the Peter Principle.

Learning 1: 1+1 = 3

You would have heard of the law of diminishing returns:

Where the law of diminishing returns operates, every additional investment of capital and labour yields less than proportionate returns.[2]

The above is true for most things in life. The first spoonful of Caviar tastes the best. The second a little lesser. After a while, you go “meh”,

But with respect to the accumulation of Knowledge, the inverse of this law holds true. The more you learn the more your skill-set compounds.

The knowledge and wisdom which the 50th book you read adds is much more than the other 49 combined.

In other words, 1+1=3. The more knowledge you gain in your particular field, the more your expertise compounds. There is more knowledge to be gained when you read the 50th book on the same subject than when you have read the second book. It becomes a case of pattern recognition and the best analogy to this lies in the financial world. It is called the “Law of compounding” which is also sometimes called the eighth wonder of the world.

The above learning is a powerful solution especially if you execute it right. In my case, I do the following to take advantage of the compounded solution:

• Choose a single field to gain mastery in
• Identify the top 5 blogs in that field
• Identify the top 20 books which explain the basics in your field.
• Spend at least 15 minutes a day skimming through the blogs to understand the latest happenings in your field
• Spend at least two hours a day reading the basics in your field. Read and re-read them.

I read somewhere once that the day you get bored reading the basics of your field, that’s the day you reach your level of incompetence. Focus on the basics and keep abreast of the latest happenings in the field and you can escape the trap that is the Peter Principle.

Learning 2: The 99% Rule

Make sure you are better than 99% of the crowd. That’s the crux of this rule. Whatever career you are building focus on being better than the 99%. In order to be among the top 1%, I recommend the following:

• Don’t just envision your career path, envision your career learning cure
• Understand what the best in the business is doing. The career path they took to get there. Then see what makes sense to you. Pick and choose.
• Understanding and playing Office Politics will not get you into the top 1%. Only skill development will do so.

The 99% rule is simple. In order to escape the wrath of the Peter principle, you need to be better than 99% of the crowd. For that, you should have a career learning and skill-enhancing plan which is better than 99% of the crowd.

Learning 3: Your point of Differentiation will soon become a point of parity

I draw this from personal experience. When I sat down for campus job placements in 2013 mobile app development and analytics were the hot skills. The minority of us who had those skills were treated like royalty and provided with good job roles and attractive pay.

Fast forward to 2016, less than three years later. Whilst I was interviewing engineering graduates for my firm, I found that what was considered a point of differentiation in 2013 is now considered a point of parity. I could see almost every engineering graduate worth his/her salt has done projects/Internships in the Mobile App Development and Analytics space. In 2019, I see the trend to be in A.I, Block-chain, and AR among engineering graduates.

My learning here is just because the skillset you have today is a point of differentiation, doesn’t mean it will remain so forever. In order to make sure that incompetence and irrelevance don’t knock at my door I make sure I do the following:

• Religiously follow the Gartner hype cycle to make sure I am aware of the Tech trends which are in trend and which will be in trend in the future
• Constantly keep making yourself obsolete. This is done in two ways:

1. Automating the activity: Any activity I get the first question I ask myself after learning is if I can automate the same. Macro in Excel and a bit of Programming in Python go a long way in making sure that all tactical activities are automated.
2. Train Replacements for yourself: According to me, one of the main reasons why internal personnel doesn’t get promoted and laterals are hired for many mid-level/high-level roles is that most are way too important for that current position. It may sound counter-intuitive but in order to create a moat around yourself, you need to break the moat around yourselves. Train as many people as possible, to do what you are good at. You not only learn a lot more that way, but you also will be readily available for the next challenge as and when it arises.

Learning 4: Skill enhanced growth and Experienced based growth: That’s the difference between linear vs exponential growth curve

One of the major and enlightening wisdom, I have had on this front is from Rajesh VD, Head of Pre-Sales at Kaar Tech:

Alphonse, in the initial part of your career Learning will come through experience. But as time goes on you need to constantly upskill yourself. Over time, it becomes a question of relevance. Upskill or you become irrelevant in the entire scheme of things.

This got me thinking, ” Is pushing yourself to learn new skills in your spare time something you do in the latter part of your career? Or is it something we do from Day 1?”

Based on my experience I came up with this equation which will increase the odds of having exponential career growth:

Exponential Career Growth = Job-Experience based growth + Skill-Enhancement based growth

We have spoken a lot about Skill-Enhancement based topics in the previous learnings. So here I will be talking about Job-Experience based growth. To put it simply, if you don’t have a place to showcase your skills then there is no point in enhancing your skills. This means that both the functions of this equation are dependent on each other. To grow you need both, not one or the other.

Job-Experience is about applying the skills you learn in a practical environment. This can be either on-the-job or a side hustle. This brings me to my next learning.

Learning 5: Create and Iterate or to put it more simply “Don’t just consume, create”

It’s easy to get trapped in the learning and reading trap. It’s easy to start the day off watching Gary V motivational videos followed by reading self-help and technical material without ever applying them. It’s easy to do a lot of courses on Linkedin Learning and Udemy and increase the number of skills we have in Linkedin without ever applying them. I have been guilty of all of the above.

That’s why I came up with the following rules:

• The 50% rule: In a day, if I spend 50% of the time Reading or learning then the other 50% is spent on creating. This can be something as small as a Tweet on the learning I did or as big as a blog post. But I make something is created.
• The Two weeks rule: If I learn something today, then I should implement it in one fashion or another in two weeks. It can be something as simple as a quote that I liked in from a book to a new marketing methodology that I could apply in my lead generation process. It’s just that simple. If you learn something implement it in two weeks.

Learning 6: Write stuff down; You don’t have a photographic memory

Some are born geniuses. They can remember everything, have an amazing mind palace like Sherlock Holmes, and can reel out what the 367th Prime number is. But for the rest of us, there is the notepad.

We are liable to forget. In this world, where we are bombarded with information from every side, we can easily forget. That earth-shattering idea we got during the morning commute to the office. Forgotten before the mid-morning coffee.

So how do hold onto those fleeting million-dollar potential ideas? Simple, note it down in your cell phone.

Also, the best part of writing down is you can always come back to this later. For example, I had an idea to write this article in the third week of Mar 2019; Noted it down in my Google Keep. Started the article in the second week of Apr 2019 and Published it on 1st May 2019. Before all the content got its final shape in the blog, it was all jotted down as notes in Google Keep.

So In order to make sure, I don’t forget what I have learned, I use the following tactics:

• Write down a summary of the books I read: I have an excel sheet in which I write down short summaries of the books I have read. Over the last year, I have jotted down summaries of over 40+ books. Rereading the summaries at least once a quarter keeps me fresh with ideas and always gives me new perspectives.
• My professional Learnings section: We have people around us. Sometimes they give you really good advice. When I find some useful piece of advice, I write it down along with who gave me advice. It is by seeing that list which I had pilled up over the last two years, I noticed I learned as much from people older than me as people my age and younger to me. I have learned lessons from people as young as 15 to as old as 74.
• Life Learnings section: Life is much more than the work that you do It’s about the relationships you build and Family and friends. It doesn’t matter how great your work life is. There should be someone there to celebrate life with. This sheet contains the learnings I got on Family, Friends, and relationships. Also a lot of quotes on Life, etc
• Idea Journal: Ideas come in spurts. Sometimes it comes as a gush of water falling from a 100-foot mountain drop. Other times, mostly those times when we actually need it, we get none at all. Idea generation and creation is not something we have any control over. Writing down the ideas which we have and given by others at the end of each day. The number of times this sheet has helped me move ahead in my career is beyond count. Most ideas come when we least expect it. Writing it down means we can use it when the time comes.

Of course, in addition to the above, I also take a lot of screenshots on my phone and sort them in different folders in Google photos. The unlimited storage the service offers allows me to have all the knowledge I see at my finger-tips

Learning 7: Track everything

Track everything. Your progress. Your Failures. Everything.

Everyone has a dream. I say it becomes a goal only when a person has set a date to it, has a plan, and starts tracking the plan. Truth, be told, no plan of mine has gone according to plan. I have never to date achieved something on the date I wanted it when I wanted it. I am an extremely undisciplined person.

But over time, it helps you set up some form of discipline and brings focus to the activities that you do. Basically, a plan and the tracker I have has always guilt-tripped me into doing something. For example, “You haven’t read a book in two weeks. It’s time to pick one up” or ” You have spent a lot on partying the last two months. I think I should cut it down”. Tracking gives you a sense of direction. Tracking gives purpose to your goal. Otherwise, it is nothing but a dream.

Learning 8: Help and Ask for Help. Mentor and be Mentored

Mentoring and being mentored is one of the best ways to avoid the peter principle. This follows the maxim:

Not everything can be learnt from google search

Google search is one of the great democratizers of Knowledge. You have everything at your fingertips. I have consciously refrained from talking about google search and Networking as those are two topics that have been beaten to death everywhere.

But, not everything can be learned from google searches. The right mentors who because of the relationship you have with them will be your pall-bearers and harbingers of victory. The right mentor can shorten the time required for achieving your dream by a significant amount. They will not reduce the Hard work required mind you. But they will sure as hell, show you the right path.

If your mentors, show you the path to success, then the mentees will keep you a success. I have seen that the kind of questions my mentees ask always keeps me on my toes and has helped me succeed on many a front.

Also, it’s important to note hoarding knowledge is never a recipe to success. It will give short-term gains but never long-term success. Because being open with sharing your knowledge and asking questions means you will get more mentors who will help you grow along with the added bonus of building trust with anyone you meet.

Learning 9: Be Fast at the Tactical and Operational Levels. Be Patient at the Strategic Level.

Speed is of the essence. Facebook has a concept called Intelligent Fast Failure. Most entrepreneurs extol the virtues of Moving fast and breaking things. I have a slightly different take on this.

We have to run incredibly fast just to stay where we are. That is the truth in this fast-changing VUCA world. But then that’s true if it is in the tactical or operational areas. Not on the Strategic front.

Be fast in doing work and identifying results in the tactical or operational levels. Be patient in getting results at the strategic level. I can explain this difference by the following examples:

• Tactical Level: One of the major activities I do in my current role as a marketer is E-mail marketing. Here speed is the name of the game. If you let your content writers be, they will go on forever in search of that perfect content. But good enough content with a few hundred campaigns for different databases gave me much more learning than weeks spent on a single perfect content. This was one place where the speed of execution coupled with analysis of the multiple results it provides gave me much more experience and results than I would have got if I spent my time thinking on getting that perfect copy.
• Operational Level: Handling regional level sales and marketing strategies comes in here. I don’t put up plans lasting more than three months for different regions in this case. There was a time when I had just started the marketing department that I never had lead generation plans lasting more than two weeks. This is simply because we have no idea what works in what Geo and for each solution. Constant and fast iteration of the sales and marketing strategies meant I could understand what worked and what didn’t work for each of the seven regions and five solutions I sell and iterate accordingly. Iterate sales strategies, keep on changing that one variable every two weeks. By experience, I have seen that six months down the line, you have a sales and marketing plan which looks completely different from what you have started with and much more effective.
• Strategic Level: While speed is the name of the game in the Tactical and Operational level, Patience is the name of the game at higher levels. For example, in my current task of setting up a marketing team, whilst all the processes are done right and getting optimized and effective, the overall strategic results of the firm will be different from that. Where the sales cycle for enterprise software solutions is sometimes 12+ months, I can’t expect the speed of results that the Tactical and Operational activities give to transfer here. I need to be patient. If I look for Or as Gary V says,

Micro, Speed. Macro, Patience.

Learning 10: Understand your profession is a sum of certain specific skillsets

For example, I define my career as a marketer as a sum of the following components:

My Marketing Ability = Knowledge of Statistics + Knowledge of Product sold + Knowledge of Marketing Tech + Creativity + Knowledge of Marketing Theory

These components keep on changing as well as the content for each of them. I try to make sure that I am kept abreast of the latest happenings in each of the above. I have explained how to learn and gain knowledge for each of the skill sets in my learnings above. But learning and getting the required skills for each of the above is only one part of the task.

It is important to understand that all the information we know is already out there and if a person is inquisitive enough he/she can always find it. What uniqueness we bring to the table is our ability to interpret the knowledge based on our unique thought process and experience.

We get both only if we understand the constituent skillsets of what makes our career/job. It’s the combination of these different skill-sets which will make us unique. The first step in gaining mastery in your chosen career is to identify its constituent skillsets. Only then can you build experience and knowledge in it.

Learning 11: Know how to do programming.

Reading + Writing + Programming = literate 21st century Human

The Indian census defines a literate Human as those who can read and write. But in the 21st century, I am a firm believer that you are illiterate if you do not have a basic understanding of programming. Even a basic knowledge of Programming can help many automate so many facets of their life both personal and professional.

It also gives you a leg up professionally. You will always be respected more and it will just help you do tasks faster.

Learning 12: Always be the greater fool

Ha, my favorite quote from the amazing TV series “The Newsroom”

“The greater fool is actually an economic term. It’s a patsy. For the rest of us to profit, we need a greater fool— someone who will buy long and sell short. Most people spend their life trying not to be the greater fool; we toss him the hot potato, we dive for his seat when the music stops. The greater fool is someone with the perfect blend of self-delusion and ego to think that he can succeed where others have failed. This whole country was made by greater fools.” -Aaron Sorkin

Simple, Be the greater fool. Take the risks. Be the person at the front of the line. The world forgives failure. It doesn’t have any time for the procrastinators. The world is built by greater fools. I use this statement in a very humdrum way. If you want to escape the Peter Principle, then be a greater fool.

I am not perfect in any way. My inadequacies and deficiencies in Leadership, Skills, and Weight management can fill pages. This article is not to pontificate. But rather an honest attempt to share my learnings on the struggle I had with Peter Principle and hope that more of you share your learnings and tips on beating the same.

References:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
2. http://www.economicsdiscussion.net/law-of-returns/law-of-increasing-returns-explained-with-diagram/1593