The Peter Principle
Witness History
BBC
4.5 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 17 September 2021
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In 1969 a satirical book, The Peter Principle, suggested that promotion led to incompetence. Written by a Canadian Professor of Education, Dr Laurence J. Peter and playwright Raymond Hull, the book was a parody of management theory but it's core message struck a chord with many. It became an instant classic, selling millions of copies around the world. We present a rare archive recording of Dr Peter, explaining his theory that “In a hierarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence". Photo: Dr Laurence J. Peter on the BBC in 1974 (BBC)
Transcript
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| 0:24.9 | searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds. |
| 0:29.2 | Hello and welcome to the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service |
| 0:37.2 | with me Alex Last and today we go back to 1969 and the publication of The Peter Principal, a best-selling satirical book |
| 0:46.1 | about incompetence in the workplace whose core message appealed to millions around the world and |
| 0:52.0 | became part of popular culture. |
| 0:54.3 | When I was a boy I used to believe my parents and believe my teachers and |
| 1:01.0 | have that you should have respect for your elders and betters and that the men upstairs |
| 1:05.2 | knew what they were doing. |
| 1:07.4 | And I was taught that the more I would know, the further I would go. |
| 1:10.9 | So I stayed in school, I got a degree, eventually got teaching certificate, I went out to teach. |
| 1:17.0 | And the first school I taught in, the principal was primarily concerned that the children did not step on the rose beds and education seemed to be the furthest thing from his mind. |
| 1:27.0 | I saw teachers and administrators that seemed incompetent and I started to question some of these ideas I had. |
| 1:35.0 | In the early 1960s, the Canadian teacher, academic and psychologist, Dr. Lawrence J. Peter |
| 1:40.4 | was fascinated by a funny, if rather weighty question. Why he pondered were so many people |
| 1:46.8 | clearly incompetent at their jobs. As evidence he later told the BBC was not exactly |
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