Named after its exponent, Laurence Peter, in 1969, the Peter Principle describes how people are promoted to their level of incompetence, and then left there.
So, what if you are the Manager? Ask yourself the question, “How did I get into this position?” Managers who exhibit this kind of fear and insecurity may have arrived at their exalted position thanks to the Peter Principle.
Lao Tzu expressed it this way, “He is free from self-display, and therefore he shines.” In my experience, humility is not invisibility, and talent will come to the fore. If you do not put your talent to good use within the team, no one benefits, and the team will not meet its goals. So, should you simply undersell yourself and receive no credit for your talent, so that the boss doesn’t feel insecure? This is the recipe for a lose/lose situation. If you get into a battle of egos with your boss, make no mistake, you will lose. If you don’t like this, then go and work for yourself! Equally, when things are not going so well, although you may not see it, the boss will take the flack. In most hierarchical structures, it is a fact that when a team does well the boss receives the credit as the leader of that team. Let’s imagine first that you are the employee with the “fragile-egoed” boss. We have to look at this law of power from two perspectives: from that of the ‘ underling’ and that of the ‘ boss’. That way, according to Green, you will do well and progress in your chosen career. Don’t undermine your boss don’t make him/her look bad don’t show your true skills if they highlight his/her shortcomings. Make your masters appear more brilliant than they are and you will attain the highest heights of power.” In your desire to please or impress them, do not go too far in displaying your talents or you might accomplish the opposite – inspire fear or insecurity. Always make those above you feel comfortably superior. In this article, I would like to show how the first ‘Law of Power’ is fundamentally flawed from two directions. These articles look at aspects of leadership and power within the context of Robert Greene’s The 48 laws of Power (1998). Disabler, I looked at the concepts of enabling or disabling those on your team. In Part 1 of this blog series, The Laws of Power: Be Enabler vs.