In some organization, you can meet people in charge of important parts of the company. After some years, they have became the technical leader, the CTO and even the director of the enterprise. They have climbed successfully to a good position and they stop moving.

Soon, you hear everyone complaining after the hero he used to be. Such a strange paradox.

“Leadership is nature’s way of removing morons from the productive flow” (Scott Adams)

The first principle which can be seen is the Peter principle (and in a more subtle way the Dilbert principle). Both state that, after a long time, people will have a position in which they will be incompetent and a burden for everyone.

With the Peter principle, the promotion was made possible by their performance on their previous position. Upper management will reward the successful employee by giving him a promotion. However, being a successful manager of a small team doesn’t mean that you can become the manager of 1000 persons! The same as driving: being a good car driver doesn’t mean that you can be a truck driver.

Eventually, people will reach a position where they will fail. And so, due to the fact that un-promoted someone is unacceptable, people will be incompetent in their current position.

Even more, accepting ourselves that we have failed in achieving the objectives of the position is psychologically complicated. Naturally we refuse to accept our failures and mistakes. In a way, we refuse to accept that we have failed and reach our maximum or that this position was not as perfect as we used to imagine. We can also be pleased by the new advantages this position gives us. Coming back to our former position can be an impossible choice.

The decantation principle

I would like to introduce another principle : the decantation principle. After a long period, people will reach position not by being successful but because they wait longer andi/or earn something valuable.

Organization can be seen as a fluid in a glass. People are like grain of sand, moving up and down driven by the dynamic of the fluid. Some of the grains fall outside the glass, they quit the company, Some of them move up and down, left and right.

Some grains can fall in the bottom and reach the “top” of the company. They can get “bigger” by acquiring knowledge or by creating a group of influence. Whenever, at the end, they can reach the top-management.

In a way, like the last old standing developer which became the lead developer “by default”…