The Peter Principle ch. 1 (1969). An earlier version by Peter was reported in the Wall Street Journal, 8 June 1967: "The Peter Principle is this: In each hierarchy, whether it be government, business, etc., each employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence. Every post tends to be occupied by an employee incompetent to execute its duties... . Dr. Peter explains that the work is done by people who have not yet attained final placement at their level of incompetence." See Scott Adams 1