In the corporate world, stars are not born, they are made – self made. It takes years of hard work to develop the right skills, and a carefully played strategy to gain the roles to get the experience needed to reach their ideal position. However, at some point, superstar performers come up against the wall – the wall built by the Peter Principle.

As most senior managers know, the Peter Principle is a concept in management whereby people in a hierarchy tend to rise to their ‘level of incompetence’. Most people that have fallen victim of this principle typically know it – and do whatever it takes to hide their incompetence, and maintain their role. They shine only by the performance of those they lead and manage, and in doing so typically fall into an ego-driven pattern of overworking their teams.

Superstars are generally highly self-driven and are keen to over-deliver and take on new projects that will extend their experience. When they come upon a Peter Principle manager [PPM], things start to go awry. For the PPM, they have found their cash cow and will milk that cow for everything they have. For the Superstar, they will enable the PPM by delivering above and beyond every chance they can. And that where this co-dependent relationship gets very unhealthy.

In an effort to exert their falsely held power, the PPM will constantly hound the Superstar to deliver more and more, until the Superstar burns out, breaks down or leaves. At which point, the PPM will merely make comment that “they really weren’t up to the job”, and search around for their next victim to support their ego.

So how can superstars prevent being overworked by PPMs. An article published on Insight Mastery by strategic performance consultant Gail La Grouw, explores in more depth why star performers get overworked, and how to push back to stay healthy.