Laurence J. Peter

thumb| In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. Laurence Johnston Peter (16 September 1919 – 12 January 1990) was a Canadian educator and management theorist, most famous for having formulated the Peter Principle. Quotes thumb|Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them. In every organization there is a considerable accumulation of dead wood in the executive level. Laurence J. Peter (1969) in "Up against the Peter principle". LIFE - Vol. 67, nr. 3. July 18, 1969. p. 59 The Peter Principle (1969) The Peter Principle (1969) co-written with Raymond Hull Occupational incompetence is everywhere. Have you noticed it? Probably we all have noticed it. p. 20 cited in: James Ike Schaap (2011) "The Peter Principle: Is This Forty-Year-Old Universal Phenomenon in Decline or Growing?" In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. p. 25: Statement of the Peter Principle In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties. Do not be fooled by apparent exceptions. p. 36 cited in: James Ike Schaap (2011) Some Blockett-type employees actually believe that they have received a genuine promotion; others recognize the truth. But the main function of a pseudo-promotion is to deceive people outside the hierarchy. When this is achieved, the maneuver is counted a success. p. 38: This phenomenon is called by Peter "percussive sublimation", or "being kicked upstairs". Never stand when you can sit; never walk when you can ride; never Push when you can Pull. p. 63 Incompetence plus incompetence equals incompetence p. 107 (The Mathematics of Incompetence) Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977) Peter's Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (1977) 0-688-03217-6 The only valid rule about the proper length of a statement is that it achieve its purpose effectively. p. 10: Introduction On second thought, maybe the atheist cannot find God, for the same reason a thief cannot find a policeman. p. 44: Sometimes misattributed to Francis Thompson, whose quote "An atheist is a man who believes himself an accident" Peter was commenting on. Bureaucracy defends the status quo long past the time when the quo has lost its status. p. 83 If you don't know where you are going, you will probably end up somewhere else. p. 125 The habitually punctual make all their mistakes right on time. p. 181 Television has changed the American child from an irresistible force into an immovable object. p. 324 If a cluttered desk is the sign of a cluttered mind, what is the significance of a clean desk? p. 333 Frequently mistaken as quote by Albert Einstein. Originality is the fine art of remembering what you hear but forgetting where you heard it. p. 362 When you see yourself quoted in print and you're sorry you said it, it suddenly becomes a misquotation. p. 418 Peter's Almanac (1982) Peter's Almanac (1977) 9780688016128 Some problems are so complex that you have to be highly intelligent and well informed just to be undecided about them. Entry for September 24; as quoted in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1993), ed. Suzy Platt, Library of Congress, 0880297689, p. 78 Quotes about Laurence J. Peter Dr. Peter effectively destroys examples of seeming exceptions and is rather convincing that his principle is ubiquitous. Lawrence Lipsitz, in The Process of Innovation in Education (1973), p. 26 External links "Laurence J. Peter Is Dead at 70; His 'Principle' Satirized Business" by James Barron, in The New York Times (15 January 1990) Category:1919 births Category:1990 deaths Category:Academics from Canada Category:Business theorists from Canada Category:Educators from Canada Category:Non-fiction authors from Canada Category:People from Vancouver