The Peter principle is a concept in management developed by Laurence J. Peter, which observes that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to “a level of respective incompetence”: employees are promoted based on their success in previous jobs until they reach a level at which they are no longer competent, as skills in one job do not necessarily translate to another.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_principle
The Peter principle states that a person who is competent at their job will earn a promotion to a position that requires different skills. If the promoted person lacks the skills required for the new role, they will be incompetent at the new level, and will not be promoted again.[1] If the person is competent in the new role, they will be promoted again and will continue to be promoted until reaching a level at which they are incompetent.
Суть такая - компетентных людей повышают до тех пор, пока они не перестанут таковыми быть. Как только они попадают на уровень, где они НЕ компетентны, они дальше не идут и там и остаются.