The Peter Principle

The Encyclopedia Foundation is, by it’s a nature, an organization very familiar with science fiction stories. In one brilliant short story – and later novel, play and movie– by Daniel Keyes called “Flowers for Algernon” a retarded man yearned to be “normal”. Speaking in the language of “Brave New World”, Charlie Gordon was a “Delta”, or high functioning retarded person, who wanted to be a what we would think of as a “Gamma” (average) or perhaps “Beta”, (above average).

He receives an operation that makes him an “Alpha” (genius) and the book is simply a detailing – shown by his diary – of his journey from being retarded, to normal, to genius…and back down again when the operation turned out not to be permanent.

Perhaps the most touching aspect of the story was his intense desire to “lern to red and rit”, as he put it. His desire to be accepted as normal he had turned into a driving urge to read and write. He thought that such was the key to being normal.

Normal people can be like Charlie. In the sense of being so close to the next mental level that they can really yearn for it, even if it is out of their reach. A Gamma can wish to be a Beta or a Beta an Alpha. It is only usually one level up aspired to – the level that you are almost, but not quite, at.

Organizations can share the same desire. The New Religious Movement that wishes to leave “cult” status and be a “church”. Or the off brand church wishing to be a Mainstream Church. A small company wishing to be a regional chain. Or a regional chain wishing to be a national conglomerate. Or that wishing to be an international mega-corp.

As to the Charlies who wish to read, or the Betas who wish to be Alphas, two things to note are that one, it can help them at least strive to be as good as they can be. But that, two, they are what they are, and should learn to live with it.

In the case of churches, businesses, or even non-profits like the Encyclopedia Foundation, it is different. One, they actually can grow and change to the next level. But two, it might be well not to – at least not fast.

An organization that finds itself too big too fast, or operating out of the depth of its board member’s abilities, can be in trouble. There are problems associated with size that they may not be equipped for. Bill Gates was not the only person who could play well with computers. But of thousands who were at the time, he was one of the few with the know-how to grow. Others had know -how – just not that specific kind. They all failed. They reached…they rose up a bit…and they fell back down.

You’ve seen movies of this phenomena. Where when the little church becomes a movement, the message gets lost, the greedy are attracted to the size of the donations collected, schisms form. Or the business that while in one town was fine, goes national and is then attacked by older, bigger, more entrenched and very intolerant corporations.

But usually, it is the Peter Principle that brings them down. Not only do employees get promoted to their own level of incompetence, but corporations, churches and charities do as well. The guy who can minister to a local flock is ill suited to for virtual “popehood”. The guy who can run a shop cannot oversee a coast to coast franchise system. The boards of either – usually friends and wives and perhaps a local bigwig or two – are no help in the major leagues.

Trouble is, they are doing well, so they keep growing because they are doing well. And who can argue with growth?

Back to Charlie Gordon, there was a woman at the Bakery he worked at who did argue. And told him that he shouldn’t have had the operation. Perhaps that goes too far the other extreme, but it is undeniable that Charlie probably would have been happier if no one had operated on him.

For us here at the Encyclopedia Foundation, we take a different message. Growth is good. Aspiring to be better, larger, more well off, is good. But limits should be known in advance. One should – as an individual or corporation or church or charity – “know one’s place”.

In Dr. Asimov’s “Foundation Series”, the Encyclopedia Foundation there did not actually know their place. They saw the Second Foundation as something to be avoided or defeated, not as the leaders they actually were. The Encyclopedia Foundation forgot that their job was specific, and it was subordinate to the over-arching purposes of the Second Foundation. In “Foundation’s Edge”, they tried to take over, and were utterly defeated.

We take this is a strong tip that modesty is a good thing. The Encyclopedia Foundation that we have is a small foundation, doing specific things. We have no rich people on our Board. Our Board is not a “who’s who”, even locally. Frankly, it probably never will be. We aren’t actually aspiring to be a well off corporation. There are inherent problems in that, not the least of which none of us are businessmen. If one isn’t good at becoming personally rich, one should not think themselves qualified to oversee riches!

More to the point though, we are about stability. We only wish to rise to each new level in an entirely safe fashion. So that if we ever find we are at our own “Peter Principle”, we can drop back to the level we just left, safely and securely. And re-trench.

This allows for a much slower growth, but a much surer growth. By the time we are big enough to need people with much more business sense, that will be the time they are available. We focus on the fact that we are to last ten thousand years, so we have time.

It is also our beliefs that “bigness” is not always good. Wealth can confer security. But past a certain point, it only attracts those who wish to deprive you of it, and thus is not a help, but a harm to you. That applies personally, and to corporate entities.

Our ideal is to be self-sufficient. Large enough to be financially secure, to be able to achieve our goals, but not so large that we start attracting people who wish board membership simply for desiring say over vast amounts of funds. Or managers or workers who are paycheck performers.

Which is why we pay no salaries at all. Not to the Board, not to the officers (who are the same as the board) and not to any workers (who again, are the same as the board!).

We picture a monastery-style of size and stability and security. Something that for the next ten thousand years does not depend on an Alpha genius to run it – such may not always be around. Like for instance, right now! We wish something that we – average Gammas and Betas – can run appropriately, safely and securely. Something that any average person can take the helm of later, without running it into the ground. At the Encyclopedia Foundation, we believe that ultimately this will pay off.

In the long run!