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Why Is Your Boss Bad At His Job? It May Be The 'Peter Principle' At Work

Not every great employee is a great manager.
Camelia Dobrin
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Getty Images/Ikon Images
Not every great employee is a great manager.

Why do good employees sometimes go on to be bad bosses? Kelly Shue, a professor of finance at Yale University, says it may have to do with what's known as the 'Peter Principle.'

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Shankar Vedantam is NPR's social science correspondent and the host of Hidden Brain. The focus of his reporting is on human behavior and the social sciences, and how research in those fields can get listeners to think about the news in unusual and interesting ways. Hidden Brain is among the most popular podcasts in the world, with over two million downloads per week. The Hidden Brain radio show is featured on some 250 public radio stations across the United States.
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