Biography of Laurence J. Peter (1919-1990)

The Peter Principle
“In a hierarchical organization employees tend to rise until they reach their level of incompetence.�

Formulated by Dr. Laurence Johnston Peter 1919-1990 in his book The Peter Principle

Laurence Johnston Peter's rank as an educator and systems analyst has been overshadowed by his popular identification with one book, The Peter Principle (1969), an instantaneous publishing success which led the New York Times best-sellers list for months and which was subsequently translated into many foreign languages. All of Peter's writing, however, is interrelated: it is consistently motivated by concern for the practical application of conceptual models and by care for the efficient direction of life by the individual subject to an institution. The positive reception of his prescriptive, good-humored books by the general public and professionals alike is one testimony to the effectiveness and timeliness of his reflections on the self-defeating aspects of social organizations.

Peter, the son of Victor Peter, an actor, and Vicenta Steves Peter, was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, 16 September 1919. After completing secondary school, he began taking courses at the University of British Columbia. He received a B.A. (1957) and an M.Ed. (1958) from Western Washington State College and an Ed.D. (1963) from Washington State University. Peter held teaching, consulting, and counseling positions at all levels in the Vancouver educational system after 1941. For over a decade (1948-1964) he was co-ordinator of mental health services for the Vancouver School Board; in 1964 he was appointed assistant professor of education at the University of British Columbia. In 1966 he joined the faculty of the University of Southern California as associate professor of education; the following year he was named director of the Evelyn Frieden Center for Prescriptive Teaching. After an unsuccessful marriage to Nancy Bailey, Peter wed Irene Howe in February 1967. In 1970, the year he received a Phi Delta Kappa research award from the University of Southern California, he became professor in residence at the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles. Peter retired from formal teaching in 1974 with the rank of professor and lived in Palos Verdes, California. He was the father of four children and a member of many professional and academic societies. His work, apart from his books, has been widely published in popular and scholarly journals.