"The Peter Principle" is a book written by Dr. Laurence Peter in 1968. It was written as satire but contained enough truth that it touched a nerve with employees around the world. Today, the concepts in this book are accepted as a harsh reality. The Peter Principle observes that employees rise up through a firm's hierarchy through promotion until they reach a level of respective incompetence. As a result, every position in a given hierarchy will eventually be filled by employees who are incompetent to fulfill their job duties.

Clearly, Frank and Ian are proof of the Peter Principle with this podcast so we consider ourselves experts on "earned incompetence." In this episode:

· Why most people won't turn down a promotion they are not qualified for

· The mistake most companies make when promoting people

· How good timing contributes to so many people feeling they are better than they are

· Why do so many incompetent people get promoted?

· Fancy titles with no direct reports are the first to go during a recession

· Why highly competent people are pushed out of companies

· Why are there so many terrible senior executives?