---
id: "prereq-peter-principle"
type: "prereq"
source_timestamps: ["§ 4. Invest in (the often neglected) mid-level managers."]
tags: ["management-theory"]
related: ["claim-mid-managers-key-roi", "action-invest-in-mid-managers"]
reason: "Required to understand the author's critique of historical management promotion practices and why mid-level managers are currently ill-equipped for the AI transition."
sources: ["adoption"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-adoption"
originDay: 9
articleStem: "hbr-edu-36-team-collaborate-with-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2024/11/set-your-team-up-to-collaborate-with-ai-successfully"
sourceTitle: "Set Your Team Up to Collaborate with AI Successfully"
---
# The Peter Principle

**Prerequisite concept.** The **Peter Principle** states that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their 'level of incompetence' — they are promoted based on success in *previous* roles until they reach a role they are not good at.

**Why it's needed:** The author references the Peter Principle as the historical reason organizations have a poor track record of appointing the right people to management (promoting strong individual contributors into leadership without leadership competence). Understanding this is necessary to grasp why the author believes mid-level management is currently a *weak link* requiring heavy investment — the basis of the claim that [[claim-mid-managers-key-roi]] and the task [[action-invest-in-mid-managers]].