NY Times, Jan. 15, 1990
Laurence J. Peter, who climbed the best-seller lists with a book meant to satirize ladder climbers everywhere, died Friday at his home in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. He was 70 years old.
His widow, Irene Peter, said he died of complications of a stroke he suffered in January 1988.
The Peter Principle, introduced in a 1969 book of the same name that Dr. Peter wrote with Raymond Hull, became as much a part of the language as Murphy's Law and Catch-22. The Peter Principle stated, ''In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.''
Dr. Peter's 179-page explanation of why this was so contained example after example of people whose reward for a job well done was a promotion - and responsibilities they could not handle, meaning no further promotions.
Dr. Peter found such people in businesses, school systems, government agencies, churches and political parties. ''The cream rises until it sours,'' he wrote, summarizing the result: every bureaucracy was inevitably made up almost entirely of people inadequate to their tasks.
Dr. Peter's principle appealed to middle-management bureaucrats whose shaky pretensions to power the book unmasked. These would-be ladder climbers liked Dr. Peter's description of the boss. ''In every thriving organization,'' he said, ''there is a considerable accumulation of dead wood at the executive level.''
The book outlined the hazards of ladder climbing, including ulcers, alcoholism, allergies and Tabulatory Gigantism - an obsession with having a bigger desk than one's colleagues.
Dr. Peter maintained that his principle was ''the key to an understanding of the whole structure of civilization.'' He also said he was only kidding. Publisher's Weekly, which was not kidding, said the book was ''precisely geared for the Age of Conglomerates.'' Some conglomerates - which were not kidding either - offered to hire Dr. Peter as their management guru. He turned them down, saying he did not want to rise above his own level of competence.
Dr. Peter's competence as a principle discoverer was not initially recognized. When he first submitted the manuscript in 1964, McGraw-Hill, which had published his education textbook some years earlier, sent back a rejection slip. ''I can foresee no commercial possibilities for such a book and consequently can offer no encouragement,'' the editor wrote.
Thirty publishers and 30 turndowns later, William Morrow & Company paid $2,500 for the manuscript and ordered a 10,000-copy run of ''The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong.'' In the spirit of the principle, Morrow set one letter of the title backwards.
Lawrence Hughes, the chairman and chief executive of the Hearst Trade Books Group, which includes William Morrow, said no one expected the book to be a big hit. But it sold more than 200,000 copies in its first year, was on The New York Times best-seller list through 1970 and was translated into 38 languages.
Dr. Peter was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Sept. 16, 1919. He received his bachelor's degree in 1957 and his master's degree in education in 1958 from Western Washington State College and his doctorate in education from Washington State College in 1963. He taught in Vancouver schools and worked as a psychologist and assistant professor at the University of British Columbia before moving to California in 1966, where he became a professor of education at the University of Southern California.
He retired from academic life in 1970 and lived off the earnings from ''The Peter Principle.'' He wrote eight other books, including ''The Peter Prescription'' in 1972, ''The Peter Quotations'' in 1977 and, with the comedian Bill Dana, ''The Laughter Prescription'' in 1982.
BuslistCan you imagine one of our Class1s being headed up by someone from Motorola for example?
I'm certainly not defending the disasters...
The key to being a good manager comes from understanding that there are processes involved in that business, and learning who can best make those processes work. Someone coming into any business from the outside and trying to make what worked in their old business work in their new business is bound to be a disaster.
You have to remember, too, that in any business larger than a sole proprietorship even the CEO is working for someone - most specifically the board of directors for a corporation. The new CEO may be exactly what a business needs, but if that conflicts with what the board/shareholders want, he/she is doomed to failure.
One of the corollaries of the Peter Principle is the "lateral arabesque." Someone who has reached their level of incompetence may be moved not upward, but sideways in the corporate ladder. It sounds like a promotion, but it's not. I would opine that some folks who move into a new business may have already reached their level of incompetence, but their supporting structure made it appear that they were still successful...
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
tree68 oltmannd Thanks for posting the bio. Seems she has a good bit of experience in adminstration. Can't hurt. That has to be most of the job. Subject matter expertise should reside in the ranks. I've heard it said that a good manager can manage any business - subject matter expertise is not necessary.
oltmannd Thanks for posting the bio. Seems she has a good bit of experience in adminstration. Can't hurt. That has to be most of the job. Subject matter expertise should reside in the ranks.
Thanks for posting the bio. Seems she has a good bit of experience in adminstration. Can't hurt. That has to be most of the job. Subject matter expertise should reside in the ranks.
I've heard it said that a good manager can manage any business - subject matter expertise is not necessary.
That certainly has not been the case as I have observed it in the U.K. Both Railtrack and Network Rail have been headed up by folks from outside the industry, autos, oil, water Works etc without any rail experience, and all have been more or less disastrous. There have been some great leaders inside the industry, like Adrian Shooter, that could have done a fantastic job.
Can you imagine one of our Class1s being headed up by someone from Motarola for example? Admitidly Matt Rose came from the outside but had enough time in the company to learn a bit about railroading before he became top dog. The last one I can remember that came almost straight from the outside was M Walsh (Cummings engine) of the UP in the late 80s and he was a disaster.
Excerpt from Newswire, Nov. 29
On a website devoted to Chao's biography, a 10-minute video shows her talking about her journey to the United States as a child and how it began with a train ride in Taiwan. Background video shows passenger cars and a Milwaukee Road steam locomotive in streamlining. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QzaYoIa2ow
ACYthere are very few managers who really are that good.
Alas, the Peter Principle does come in to play...
Yes, I've heard it too. It may even be true in some cases. But the fact is, a person has to be astoundingly good to be able to manage any business, no matter what it is; and in my experience, there are very few managers who really are that good.
Tom
BaltACD The appointments so far are those one would expect to see clogging the swamp's drain. So much for the best and brightest.
The appointments so far are those one would expect to see clogging the swamp's drain. So much for the best and brightest.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
This story really amuses me.
First, so much for the much-vaunted "Drain the Swamp" nonsense! No one is more of a Washington insider than Ms. Chao.
Second, no one here (including me) saw this one coming or even had a clue. The last two weeks, according to this forum, John ( Big Fool) Mica had the inside track on this job. After all, he was "so well qualified" and would be the logical favorite of the GOP and folks here "in the know." Shows what we know!
Third, apparently the job of Transportation Secretary is so easy that anyone can do it, even a person with not only no experience in anything related to it, but one who probably has not driven an automobile, ridden on a train, or even had a ride in a truck for the last twenty years. When has Ms. Chao not been chauffer-driven to her business class airplane ride?
Fourth, I do breathe a little easier. A distinguished railfan told me the other day that the "inside word" in DC or some such place is that Amtrak "will be toast next year." It doesn't look like that to me now.
But it again shows how we railfans and "experts" don't know any more than anyone else what the new President will do.
Fifth, "don't let the door hit you, Congressman." Hahahahaha.
Paul_D_North_Jr I'd love to ask her what she thinks about the late George W. Hilton's view of the ICC, and see what she really knows
I'd love to ask her what she thinks about the late George W. Hilton's view of the ICC, and see what she really knows
In 1989, Chao was asked about ICC sunset in a questionnaire for Senate confirmation as Deputy Secretary of Transportation. Coincidentally, she was an exchange student at Hilton's alma mater in '74.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000014976575;view=1up;seq=43;size=150
Excerpt from NARP Hotline, Sept. 6, 1991
The Deputy Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, resigned yesterday to become the Director of the Peace Corps. Chao often represented Secretary Skinner at Amtrak board meetings but was thought to be somewhat in his shadow. Eventually, she may want to run for Senate from her home state of California, so her new job will give her more visibility.
Paul_D_North_JrDegree in economics and an MBA may lead to some rational thinking about transportation policies, vs. what happens when a lawyer or political science type has the position (compare with current FRA Administrator).
I fully agree. She has very good qualifications for the job and a very good track record.
Degree in economics and an MBA may lead to some rational thinking about transportation policies, vs. what happens when a lawyer or political science type has the position (compare with current FRA Administrator).
I'd love to ask her what she thinks about the late George W. Hilton's view of the ICC, and see what she really knows - doesn't have to agree, just be able to discuss it intelligently. I believe Albro Martin and some others are of like kind - say, L. Stanley Crane, etc.
- Paul North.
-Don (Random stuff, mostly about trains - what else? http://blerfblog.blogspot.com/)
Talk about nepotism in government!
I think that is the only picture I have ever seen of Sen. McConnell without a scowl on his face.
Elaine Chao (Mrs. Mitch McConnell) according to NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/us/politics/elaine-chao-transportation-trump.html?_r=0
Excerpt from Sacred Heart University article
http://www.sacredheart.edu/aboutshu/news/newsstories/2016/april/elaine-chao-inspires-audience-at-speaker-series.html
Chao came to the U.S. from Taiwan at age 8 with her mother and two younger sisters. After nearly 40 days on a freight ship, they arrived in New York and joined her father, who had arrived in the states three years earlier for advanced studies. The family settled into a one-bedroom apartment in Queens, N.Y., and she soon started third grade.
“I learned English by copying whatever was on the blackboard into my notebook,” Chao said. At night, her father, Dr. James S.C. Chao, would go through her notebook and teach her how to speak the new language.
While her surroundings were new and different and she often felt vulnerable, Chao said life was good. “We had the security and love of our parents and we were in America—the best country in the world.”
Ultimately, she earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass., and an MBA from Harvard University. In 1993, she married Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the current senate majority leader.
Her positive attitude, sense of curiosity and parents who taught her she could do anything she wanted if she worked hard enabled Chao to obtain leadership positions in the nonprofit, for-profit and government sectors. As president and CEO of the United Way of America, she helped restore confidence in the organization after financial mismanagement damaged its stature. During her tenure as director of the Peace Corps, she established programs in the former Soviet Union. She also held executive positions in banking before moving on to government roles.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.