October 4, 2008
O.J. Simpson and the "Peter Principle"
Are you familiar with the Peter Principle? As I understand it, the principle states that every individual tends to eventually rise to their level of incompetence. The principle seems to indicate that this is an organic process that happens naturally over time. I've also heard a variation of the principle that implies that the easiest way to get rid of an under-performing employee is to promote them. There's lots of reasons why firing an employee is difficult: you're timid and fearful of their reaction, you work for the government and there's too much paperwork, you're married to them, etc. Regardless, this variation would espouse that you instead promote the worker. Lacking in skills, they're sure to eventually find themselves in a position where gross incompetence will virtually guarantee outright failure and dismissal.
I had a funny thought this morning while reading that O.J. was found guilty on all 12 charges against him. One could argue that back when he was acquitted of murder the jury was expediting the natural order and promoting O.J. to his level of incompetence. It seems that living as a free human in society was just too much. Truly Pathetic.
Posted by mark at 1:51 PM | Comments (0)