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Quite rare to see, both in politics and professional environments, an "incompetent" person that admits they're struggling and they're not up for the task. Remi

by sph 4y ago

Quite rare to see, both in politics and professional environments, an "incompetent" person that admits they're struggling and they're not up for the task. Reminds me of the very common phenomenon of managers climbing the career ladder until they reach their "peak incompetence", often with disastrous effects.

fsflover 4y ago
> very common phenomenon of managers climbing the career ladder until they reach their "peak incompetence" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
sveme 4y ago
> Reminds me of the very common phenomenon of managers climbing the career ladder until they reach their "peak incompetence", often with disastrous effects. Stop calling me out. You're refering to the Peter principle, though combined with the common imposter syndrome, it's quite hard from the inside of yourself to figure out whether you are at the Peter stage of your career or just think that someone will figure out that you are an imposter while actually doing a good job.
- sph 4y ago
  It's commendable to have enough self-awareness to recognise it happening to you. A few years ago I was promoted to a high-level director position, and even though I thought I was doing a good job, I hated every second of it and felt I was way above my head. I definitely learned the lesson that managing people is just not for me. That was my peak incompetence level. Now, either I get paid to write code, or to design systems on a hammock and have someone else build them. Just don't make me manage anything.
sgt101 4y ago
Quite a few people I know have deliberately stopped climbing the ladder because they decided senior roles were not for them. Not only that, I often see people decline promotions because they think that they will not be able to do what's needed due to imposter syndrome (or good old fashioned low confidence & self esteem) when I think that actually they'd do a very good job. It's also not widely appreciated that many senior roles are basically unwinnable. What I mean is that no matter how good the manager is they are destined to repeated failures because the job is stacked against them. The thing is to have people doing these jobs who mitigate the damage and manage the fall out effectively. This is often perceived as incompetence by other in the organisation when it really isn't.
- jjk166 4y ago
  The major issue is that as you move up the ladder, the specific types of skills you need change. Being a good problem solver doesn't make you a good people manager nor a good budget planner, etc. Even if someone had the skills they needed for the higher level position, that doesn't mean they would enjoy it to the same degree as what they chose to seek a position in. More often then not, the pay bump of a promotion is the consolation for taking on a much worse job.

by sph 4y ago

fsflover 4y ago

> very common phenomenon of managers climbing the career ladder until they reach their "peak incompetence" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle

sveme 4y ago

> Reminds me of the very common phenomenon of managers climbing the career ladder until they reach their "peak incompetence", often with disastrous effects. Stop calling me out. You're refering to the Peter principle, though combined with the common imposter syndrome, it's quite hard from the inside of yourself to figure out whether you are at the Peter stage of your career or just think that someone will figure out that you are an imposter while actually doing a good job.

sph 4y ago
It's commendable to have enough self-awareness to recognise it happening to you. A few years ago I was promoted to a high-level director position, and even though I thought I was doing a good job, I hated every second of it and felt I was way above my head. I definitely learned the lesson that managing people is just not for me. That was my peak incompetence level. Now, either I get paid to write code, or to design systems on a hammock and have someone else build them. Just don't make me manage anything.

sgt101 4y ago

Quite a few people I know have deliberately stopped climbing the ladder because they decided senior roles were not for them. Not only that, I often see people decline promotions because they think that they will not be able to do what's needed due to imposter syndrome (or good old fashioned low confidence & self esteem) when I think that actually they'd do a very good job. It's also not widely appreciated that many senior roles are basically unwinnable. What I mean is that no matter how good the manager is they are destined to repeated failures because the job is stacked against them. The thing is to have people doing these jobs who mitigate the damage and manage the fall out effectively. This is often perceived as incompetence by other in the organisation when it really isn't.

jjk166 4y ago
The major issue is that as you move up the ladder, the specific types of skills you need change. Being a good problem solver doesn't make you a good people manager nor a good budget planner, etc. Even if someone had the skills they needed for the higher level position, that doesn't mean they would enjoy it to the same degree as what they chose to seek a position in. More often then not, the pay bump of a promotion is the consolation for taking on a much worse job.