Of course you've heard of Murphy's Law:
"Whatever can go wrong will go wrong"...
Business author Laurence Peters proposed in his 1969
book "The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong"
that there is such pressure in American business to move
"upward" that employees continue to win promotions until
they reach a level where they simply cannot do the work required of
that position.
These employees end up desperately unhappy, struggling
to survive and at the same time costing the company money in lost
productivity, lowered morale, and less innovation.
Someone who has been very successful in their job
probably enjoys the work. However, their success in the position makes
them a candidate for promotion to a new, "higher" position,
the duties of which they may not completely understand. Many
times, when they accept the promotion, they struggle a little at first
as they learn new things, but then they begin to master the new job.
Soon they are ready to be promoted again.
Eventually, they accept a position only to discover
that they are not capable of doing what needs to be done in the new
job. They get negative performance feedback for the first time in
their career. Their supervisor offers them coaching or additional
training. These help some, but ultimately are not enough. The employee
begins doing some parts of the job, but not necessarily the most
important ones. They make incorrect decisions, because they just don't
know any better. They stifle the people in their group so that none of
them can become a threat. They temporize and procrastinate because
they lack confidence. They are unhappy in the job and the company is
unhappy with their performance.
Refusal by the individual to step down and reluctance
by the company to adequately facilitate "inverse promotions"
cost many companies dearly.
Such is the state of American business
The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong