Career evolution
Saturday, June 14, 2008 at 10:37AM Consulting: If you're not a part of the solution,there's good money to be made in prolonging the problem. despair.com
When I was young I was good at frying eggs.
I went to school and got a degree in frying eggs.
I got a job frying eggs.
I was the best at frying eggs for the company so they had me supervise others frying eggs.
I was the best at supervising those who fried eggs so they had me manage the supervisors.
I gave a conference presentation on how to fry eggs good.
I wrote a book about how to fry eggs good.
I have a blog about how to fry eggs good.
I became an egg frying consultant.
I don't remember how to fry eggs anymore.
Does anybody remember The Peter Principle? - that we all rise in our organizations until we become incompetent and then remain in that position.
You don't much hear it mentioned much anymore. Is it because we are embarrassed?
Has the world become so complex and so fast changing that none of us feel competent?
Reader Comments (11)
Very timely blog post. I was actually discussing my Admin on Twitter and mentioned the Peter Principle. Thanks for the smile.
@Doug
Maybe that means it is time to try something else. Everyone is motivated differently. Some like being the top in their field. After that point maybe it's time to change fields? I wrestle daily with whether I want to keep going in school administration or just go pursue something else. Hard to decide. I love the quote from despair.com. I've thought about hanging their poster on motivation in our faculty lounge: "Motivation: Sometimes the best way to improve morale is to fire all the unhappy people". Then again someone might sue me.
Hi Doug,
I just read an article that employers should try to keep their good senior employees from rushing out the door. The plateau of wisdom gained from experience should not be underestimated. Some 'Peters' are Prophetic Peters. Listen and encourage them.
Unfortunately, some "Peters" are just Dicks!
Thanks for helping me understand Web 2.0!
My experience in education has been that the people who rise to the top in administration positions seem to be the people whom I can't imagine being good at teaching in a classroom. People who are really good teachers are people who stay in the classroom, get old, and when they retire, miss it and go back to substitute.
I love it! Everything makes perfect sense to me now.
Brian
El Paso
Hi Brian,
If all of life were so easily explained.
Doug
Thanks for this post. It adds on to what I've been thinking lately. I've been waxing nostalgic for the days when I was a tech integrationist at a small school, worked with every kid and teacher. I felt cutting edge then. Now I feel chronically behind, unable to lead, uninspired. Been wondering if I needed to move back "down" to something that made better use of my skills.
No where for me to move "down" to at the moment, but this post furthered my thinking that was stuck in a loop for the past few days. Thanks.
Hi Susan,
I think we all have the kind of spells you are going through. Usually, something challenging pops up and I get happier!
Doug
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