Raymond Hull Quotes

He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away.

Peace of mind is attained not by ignoring problems, but by solving them.

He who trims himself to suit everyone will soon whittle himself away. —Raymond Hull Imagine

I have noticed that, with few exceptions, men bungle their affairs. Everywhere I see incompetence rampant, incompetence triumphant...I have accepted the universality of incompetence.

One challenge is the Peter Principle. Coined by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book of that name, the Peter Principle holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their “level of incompetence”), and there they remain being unable to earn further promotions.

The obsessive feeling that a person who pushes harder than average deserves to advance farther and faster than average. This feeling, of course, has no scientific basis: it is simply a moralistic delusion

In time I saw that all such cases had a common feature. The employee had been promoted from a position of competence to a position of incompetence. I saw that, sooner or later, this could happen to every employee in every hierarchy.

For each individual, for you, for me, the final promotion is from a level of competence to a level of incompetence.

In most hierarchies, super-competence is more objectionable than incompetence.

tis the curse of service, Preferment goes by letter and affection, And not by old gradation, where each second Stood heir to the first.

W. Irving points out that "Your true dull minds are generally preferred for public employ, and especially promoted to city honors." He did not realize that a mind may well be bright enough for a subordinate position, yet appear full when promoted to prominence, just as a candle is all very well to light a dinner table, but proves inadequate if placed on a lamppost to illuminate a street corner.

W. Irving points out that "Your true dull minds are generally preferred for public employ, and especially promoted to city honors." He did not realize that a mind may well be bright enough for a subordinate position, yet appear dull when promoted to prominence, just as a candle is all very well to light a dinner table, but proves inadequate if placed on a lamppost to illuminate a street corner.

Vouloir c'est pouvoir

All marriages are happy. It’s the living together afterward that causes all the trouble. --Raymond Hull

challenge is the Peter Principle. Coined by Dr. Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull in their 1969 book of that name, the Peter Principle holds that in a hierarchy, members are promoted so long as they work competently. Sooner or later they are promoted to a position at which they are no longer competent (their “level of incompetence”), and there they remain being unable to earn further promotions. As Andy Grove points out in his management classic High Output Management, the Peter Principle is unavoidable, because there is no way to know a priori at what level in the hierarchy a manager will be incompetent.