1. This is an analysis of four statements regarding personal success for managers.
We will identify, explain and contrast each of the statements regarding their impact on
the lives of young professionals, provide specific concepts that relate to each statement,
and provide recommended actions young professionals can take so they will steadily
move up the corporate ladder rather than be derailed.
The first statement to be analyzed is “There once was a man who thought he was
better than I – and he was…until he had that thought!” This statement is addressing a
person who is arrogant. The Wikipedia definition of arrogant is: “an adjective that may
refer to having excessive pride in oneself. A person who is arrogant may exaggerate
one’s own worth or importance in an overbearing manner.” Arrogant people have major
communication issues including that they seldom listen to good ideas other people may
have. In addition, arrogant people will downplay the achievements of others. Arrogant
people are typically unpopular and don’t even realize it! Being unpopular at work will
encourage colleagues to say bad things about arrogant people behind their backs. These
negative comments may be overheard by management thereby possibly raising some
managerial concerns. Finally, ignoring good ideas, downplaying the achievements of
others and being unpopular in the business world will hurt an individual’s opportunity for
upward mobility because colleagues will avoid arrogant people and therefore arrogant
people will not get important information that would help them to attain their goals and
objectives. From the definition and explanation of arrogance shown above, we believe
we have explained why arrogance is a negative trait for people in the workforce.

2. In addition to arrogance simply being a negative trait, we believe that the negative
perception of arrogance will actually be exacerbated as Generation Y people continue to
join the workforce. Generation Y people are considered to be people born between the
years of 1978 to 1998. The expectations of Generation Y people are that they will be
known for their civic purpose and teamwork and upbeat attitudes and institutional trust.
In addition, some statistics indicate that 61% of Generation Y people believe they are
personally responsible for making a difference in the world and 66% of college freshmen
indicate that it is very important to help people who are in difficult situations. The
increasing need for personal involvement and teamwork the Generation Y employees will
bring to the workforce will make arrogant people even less able to assimilate properly
into the workforce, thereby, making the likelihood of an arrogant person rising to a
prominent position even less probable than with previous generations.
To contrast the fact that arrogance is a negative trait, young adults entering the
workforce also need to realize that if they do have some brilliance, they need to bring
their uniqueness and special skills to their organization. For example, in the 1800’s there
was a businessman in San Francisco named Joshua Norton. He lost in a business venture
and basically became destitute over night which made him lose his mind. He arrogantly
proclaimed to that he was the Emperor of San Francisco. The newspaper published his
proclamation, and, although he was considered an arrogant laughing stock within San
Francisco, the local restaurants and hotels provided for him for free. He reigned as
emperor of San Francisco for forty years. During that time, he had three ideas that were
published and mocked by the natives of San Francisco. His first idea was to form a
League of Nations where disputes could be handled between different countries. His

3. second idea was for San Francisco to fill in parts of the San Francisco Bay in order to
make more room to build on. His third idea was to make a suspension-span bridge to be
built exactly where the Golden Gate Bridge stands today. Although in the early 1800’s
his ideas were scoffed at and he was considered to be insanely arrogant, he obviously was
able to think well before his time. Therefore, if someone has that lightning bolt idea he
must bring that idea forward and fight for the idea even in the event of appearing
arrogant.
Following are five tips, for individuals who may have an arrogant personality or
who may have attained that lightening bolt idea, to help soften their interpersonal skills:
First, always try to keep conversations balanced like a seesaw. Consider that the most
knowledgeable person in the conversation is the heaviest. Therefore, if you are the most
knowledgeable, or the heaviest, you would need to physically move toward the lighter
person on the seesaw or the lighter person would be suspended in air. Therefore, the
most knowledgeable person should physically move toward the less knowledgeable.
Second, try to balance the air time. Allowing others to talk will help to engage them in
the project. When talking with a coworker, you should cognitively try to limit your
conversation to 50% of the time. Third, ask questions and listen to the answers. This
may seem obvious, but asking questions and listening does not come easily to over
talkers. Asking questions makes your coworkers feel that their opinions are valued and it
gives them the opportunity to talk. (See the second rule). Fourth, use disclaimers and
other interpersonal padding. What this means is that how you say things is very
important. For example, instead of saying “let me show you how that is done”, you could
have a saved up, empathetic statement like “I had trouble with that too” before you ask to

4. show someone how it is done. Fifth, recognize what they know and don’t seek credit for
what you know. This is fairly self explanatory yet a very important concept. Always
seek to recognize what others know, even if it is less than your understanding, and never
try to grab the recognition for your knowledge. If you are, in fact, more knowledgeable
at a certain thing, others will recognize it.
In conclusion, the statement “There once was a man who thought he was better
than I – and he was…until he had that thought!” demonstrates how arrogant people will
most likely be derailed in their careers. This analysis also recognizes the changing
society with Generation Y people joining the workforce and still recommends people
with the genius ideas bring their ideas forward and provides tips for people with arrogant
styles to follow so they can minimize the problem of their arrogance.
The second statement to analyze is “Never use a hatchet to remove a fly from
your associate’s forehead!” One of the things this statement is addressing is the
importance of teamwork. The Wikipedia definition of teamwork is: “the concept of
people working together cooperatively, as in a sports team.” There was a 2003 survey,
called HOW-FAIR, that indicated Americans believe being a team player is the most
important factor towards getting ahead in the workplace. The survey indicated that being
a team player was ranked higher than performance, leadership skills, intelligence,
working long hours and even making money for the organization. Social skills that are
desirable for successful teamwork include: listening, questioning, persuading, respecting,
helping, sharing and participating. It is important to listen in order to understand other
people’s ideas. Questioning is important in order to get other people to open up and
interact so that team objectives can be better understood and met. Persuading is

5. important so that team members exchange and rethink ideas. Respecting is important
because that encourages others to share ideas. It is critical to help coworkers and helping
is also the basic theme of teamwork. Sharing ideas is obviously critical to teamwork and
it is also important that all members of a team participate so that all ideas can be
considered. The statement “Never use a hatchet to remove a fly from your associate’s
head” also addresses the importance of being trusted by your peers. Obviously, it would
take only one time for you to remove a fly from your associate’s head with a hatchet to
have your associate never ask you for help in removing a fly from his head again, and
most likely would never ask you for help in anything in the future. Your associate would
lose trust in you. Wikipedia defines trust as “the belief in the good character of one
party, presumed to seek to fulfill policies, ethical codes, law and their previous
promises.” The Foundations of Social Theory by James S. Coleman provides the
following four part definition of trust: First, placement of trust allows for actions that
would not be possible without trust. Second, if the person who is trusted is really
trustworthy, the person placing the trust would ultimately be better of for trusting that
individual. The converse is also true, that the person placing trust would be worse off if
their faith was given to an untrustworthy person. Third, trust is an action that involves
giving resources (physical, intellectual, etc.) to the trusted individual with no real
commitment from the trusted individual. Four, there is a time lag between when the trust
is given and the result of the trusted behavior. It is very important to maintain a positive
working relationship with peers so that you can communicate effectively and be able to
get important information as needed and maintaining trust is a very important aspect of a
positive working relationship.

6. In contrast to the fact that being a good team player is considered to be a very
positive trait, young adults entering the workforce also need to recognize the importance
of being a knowledge worker. Although teamwork is very important, most of the time
spent at work will not be directly working with peers. Most time spent will be fulfilling
specific job requirements such as writing reports, interacting with customers, following
work procedure, etc. A knowledge worker is a person who is expert in some particular
area. The knowledge worker is productive only through self-motivation and self-
direction. They are the people who others will seek out for help. In other words, it is
important for people entering the workforce to recognize that in addition to being a good
team player, they also need to learn the tools of their trade and to apply them in an expert
level. The knowledge worker is one of three categories of the new breed entering the
workforce. First, there are the losers. These are the workers who, because they were not
able to scholastically perform, are condemned to an inferior status. People need to realize
that this new breed of worker is not illiterate. Because of television and computers these
people have considerably more knowledge and skill than many people who entered the
workforce only 50 years ago. The losers are resentful and arguably do not consider
education to be a genuine criterion for success. The best way to interact with this
category of worker is to give them responsibility and treat them with respect so they can
overcome their feelings of inferiority. The second group is the large number of
immigrants from pre-industrial civilizations. These workers are naïve towards modern
society and need to be treated in a paternal fashion. These workers need understanding,
responsibility and the opportunity to achieve. The final group is the knowledge worker.
The knowledge worker cannot be motivated by external forces. He has to motivate

7. himself and he has to direct himself. The knowledge worker will develop his own
standards for his performance and objectives. In conclusion, being a good team player
alone will not be enough to keep any career going in an upward momentum, people must
also become a knowledge worker.
In conclusion to the second statement, we have demonstrated that this statement
addresses the importance of both teamwork and trust. We have explained the concept of
the Foundations of Social Theory by James S. Coleman. In addition, we have explained
the theory of the three categories of the new breed of workers entering the workforce and
the importance of the knowledge worker. Finally, we have given tips regarding how
young professionals will be able to best interact with the three categories of the new
breed of workers.
The third statement to analyze is: “Super competence is often more objectionable
than is incompetence!” This statement comes directly from The Peter Principle, by Dr.
Laurence J. Peter and Raymond Hull. In The Peter Principle they consider performance
on a bell curve with the continuum from left to right being super incompetent,
incompetent, moderately competent, competent and super competent. The super
incompetent and the super competent are at the two extremes of the distribution curve.
Both the super incompetent and the super competent will most likely be terminated from
an organization because in both cases, their performance disrupts the harmony of the
organizational hierarchy. Individuals in the incompetent category will not be terminated;
their incompetence will only preclude their opportunity for upward mobility. To better
explain, an example of incompetence provided in this book is a teacher who never broke
the rules. As a matter of fact, she never broke the rules including when a pipe burst in

8. her classroom and she continued teaching because no emergency bell was rung. She
teaches exactly what she is told to teach but her lack of judgment makes her an
incompetent teacher. Her incompetence, however, will not get her terminated from her
job it will only preclude her from getting promoted to a higher level. An example of a
super competent teacher is an English teacher who was able to get his students excited in
reading. His students became so interested in English that they read books not on the
schools approved reading list. Parents began to complain about the books their children
were reading and the teacher was terminated. The super competent gets fired while the
incompetent does not. These are explanations of the statement: “Super competence is
often more objectionable than incompetence”.
In contrast to the philosophy that the super competent is more of a liability than
the incompetent, we need to consider intelligence. Wikipedia’s definition of intelligence
is “a property of mind that encompasses many related mental abilities, such as the
capacities to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas and
language, and learn.” We can assume that the higher an individuals intelligence is, the
better he will be able to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend ideas
and learn, which will make him a more competent employee. If super competent person
behaves correctly, their super competence should not be a problem. The example
provided by Dr. Peter regarding the super competent teacher is flawed. What Dr. Peter
failed to consider was the teacher’s responsibility in being sure his students were reading
appropriate literature. We would argue that the lack of political savvy demonstrated by
the teacher Dr. Peter claims to be super competent makes that teacher a liability to the
school board, and therefore, super incompetent. No matter how competent, good or great

9. a person’s performance is, he must always be cognitive of the political environment
around him.
Following are nine recommendations for young adults as they begin their careers.
This advice will even help the super competent! First, when you go to work have a
winning attitude. This means you must be humble, ready to learn and possess a positive
attitude. Second, recognize that professional life is different than student life. Remove
My.Space information personal to you from the internet and be careful not to over
indulge in liquor at company events or to joke with your peers. Third, develop break in
strategies such as keeping your eyes and ears open for the first six months before you
open your mouth, don’t be a know it all – because you aren’t, and realize you will be the
outsider until you prove otherwise. Fourth, manage the impressions you make. This
includes controlling enthusiasm, conform your personal style to be similar to those
around you and realize that your work colleagues will be friendly, but not your friends.
Fifth, develop your first year political strategies to include: proving your competence,
learn how politics are played at your company, try to avoid any political strikes against
you, learn the differences about the people around you, and be very careful to present
yourself in a way that people will trust you. Six, develop a good working relationship
with your boss. You can do this by knowing what your boss expects from you and do not
expect your boss to tell you exactly how to do your job or bail you out when you make
mistakes. Seven, you should learn your organizations culture and personality. You can
do this by trying to fit in to your work group and recognizing when you know enough
about your function and work group to start to provide recommendations instead of
asking for them. Eight, show yourself as a professional by demonstrating specialized

10. knowledge, high performance, excellent ethics, strong commitment to work and
accepting responsibility. Nine, recognize that it is OK to be a rookie. It will be better for
you to ask questions and ask for help than to make errors or be viewed as incompetent.
In conclusion to the third statement, we have explained why super competence is
often more objectionable than is incompetence. In addition, we provide a contrasting
philosophy that supports the need for super competent people recognizing that super
competent people need to be careful of their political environment. We also provided
nine recommendations for young adults as they begin their careers so that they do not
derail, even if they are super competent.
The fourth and final statement we will analyze is: “In a hierarchy a person rises to
the level of his or her incompetence.” This statement is the entire premise of The Peter
Principle. In this book, Dr. Peter explains when he was growing up he was taught that
managers knew what they were doing. However, after college, he realized many of his
leaders, and leaders he observed, were not well suited for their jobs. The book provides
examples of three case studies regarding individuals being promoted to their level of
incompetence. The first is of a maintenance foreman who was well liked by his
superintendent because he was always agreeable and demonstrated good judgment.
When the superintendent retired, the foreman was promoted to the superintendent’s
position. The fact that the once maintenance foreman was so agreeable became a liability
in his position as superintendent because he agreed with every request and
recommendation from his superiors and customers. As a result of his consistent
affirmative response regarding his departments willingness to complete various projects,
his department was continuously exceeding their budget and failing to satisfy all of the

11. promises the yes man made. The next example is of an automobile repair person. He
was excellent as a journeyman mechanic because of his love of mechanical things and
because he was a perfectionist. When he was promoted to foreman of the repair shop, his
perfectionism and personal need to have his hands in the mechanical doings at the shop
made him a horrible foreman. He was never in his office and he failed to understand that
his customers wanted their cars back and didn’t care if everything was perfect. The final
example is about General Goodwin. As a General, he was well respected by his men
because of his personal bravery and informal, racy style of speech. He was promoted to a
field-marshal and this position required him to interface with politicians and other
generals. He could not change his style and he quarreled with dignitaries and was very
unsuccessful in his role as field-marshal. These are all examples of individuals being
promoted to their level of incompetence. Laurence Peter seems to believe that most of us
will be promoted to our level of incompetence.
In contrast to Dr. Peter’s belief that most of us will be promoted to our level of
incompetence we assert that does not necessarily have to happen. First, management
needs to analyze the skills and styles required to be successful in a position. Many
companies have Succession Plans to identify individuals with the potential for one of the
senior level positions and as part of the Succession Plan, the company will put together a
development plan to train the individual, thereby getting him or her ready to assume a
position with an increased level of responsibility. However, assuming one works for a
company that is not sophisticated enough to have a succession plan, there is a lot that the
individual can do to be sure they are ready for the next position within the organization’s
hierarchy. The following is a summary of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

12. People who follow these recommendations should not be concerned with being promoted
to their level of incompetence. The first habit is to be proactive. The explanation of
being proactive includes that the individual must choose their response to situations and
not blame anything outside of themselves for their situation. It is not what happens to us,
but our responses to what happens to us that are important. General Goodwin’s situation
as described above is a good example of someone not choosing their responses
appropriately. It was his choice to quarrel with dignitaries and not adjust his style to fit
the requirements of the job. Other important features of being proactive are the need to
take initiative, which would include developing oneself or figuring out how to resolve a
problem. In addition, keeping commitments is a big part of being proactive. The second
habit of successful people is to begin with the end in mind. For example, if you carefully
consider what you want your subordinates, peers and managers to think about you, that
consideration will drive your behavior at work. If the maintenance foreman described by
Dr. Peter had assumed his new responsibilities visualizing that he wanted the respect of
his subordinates, customers and superiors, he very likely would have found the gumption
to say no to some of the requests. Habit number three is to put first things first. This
habit is about managing yourself every day. For example, if work is a priority, you
would be certain to be on top of your assignments every day regardless of the number of
hours it took you to accomplish them. In addition, you would prepare for the next days
work by certainly getting good nights sleep and possibly even ensuring that the
appropriate clothes were pressed and ready. The fourth habit of successful people is to
think win/win. By thinking win/win, your goal is not to out smart, out think, or out
maneuver the other guy. Your goal is to get what you want and also be sure the other

13. person gets what they want as well. With a win/win attitude you are constantly seeking a
mutual benefit in all of your human interactions. There are three character traits you
must cultivate in order to be able to really have a win/win attitude. You must have
integrity. Integrity is the ability to make and keep a commitment. Another character trait
you must cultivate is maturing. A mature person will be able to express their convictions
with courage while still being sensitive to the feelings and perspective of the other
person. The final character trait you must have in order to really have a win/win attitude
is abundance mentality. That is simply the mentality that there is enough out there for
everyone. You would not need to hoard the material, recognition, power, or profit for
yourself. The fifth habit is seek first to understand, then to be understood. Most people
are either speaking or preparing to speak. To be successful in this habit, you really need
to want to hear and understand the other person’s perspective and ideas. After you have
learned how to really listen, it is also very important for the fifth habit for you to be able
to know how to also be understood. The essence of being understood is to prepare for the
conversation, either mentally or sometimes the situation would call for a formal
presentation, and be sure to use empathy in your presentation. The sixth habit to cultivate
is to synergize. The definition of synergy is that the whole is greater than the sum of the
parts. In other words, it means that you should develop the habit of being able to get
other people around you excited, communicative, and open to throw out ideas that can be
positively acted upon. Of course you need to be part of the synergy too! Finally, the
seventh habit of highly successful people is to sharpen the saw. This habit surrounds all
of the other habits because it is the one that makes the other habits possible. The best
explanation of this habit is to suppose you came upon someone feverishly sawing down a

14. tree. You ask him how long he has been doing this and he replies he has been sawing for
hours. You suggest that he stop and sharpen the saw, but his response is that he does not
have time. The message here is that if he stopped to sharpen the saw he would actually
save time and energy. The message in this habit is that you need to periodically back off,
relax, and contemplate how you are doing towards maintaining the previous six habits of
highly effective people so that you can sharpen your saw. It is very important to
periodically reflect on your behavior and your commitment and management of the seven
habits of highly effective people.
In conclusion of the fourth statement analyzed, we provided explanation of what
Dr. Peter meant what he claimed that “In a hierarchy a person rises to the level of his or
her incompetence”. In addition, we provided contrasting arguments that effective
Succession Planning within a company may thwart the phenomenon of an individual
being promoted to his level of incompetence as well as provided advice found from The 7
Habits of Highly Effective People that professionals could follow and thereby, manage
their careers so they will not reach their level of incompetence.
In summary, we have provided explanations of four statements that specifically
apply to the personal success of managers. In addition, we have provided an alternative
point of view to each of the statements. Each statement analyzed also provides a
recommended course of action that the young professional entering the workplace can
take so that they are not negatively impacted by the implications from the statements
analyzed.

15. 1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrogance, Arrogant
2. http://www.usaatoday.com/news/nation/2006-10-23-gen-next-cover_x.htm, Getting
Involved, USA Today.
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Y, Generation Y
4. http://www.druglibrary.org/schaffer/GENERAL/norton1.htm, “A Little Levity About
Arrogance”, by Clifford A. Schaffer
5. http://hodu.com/sharing.shtml, “Tips for Sharing Information Without Appearing to
be a “Know-it-all”, by Joan Lloyd
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teamwork, Teamwork
7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_%28sociology%29, Trust (sociology)
8. Management Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, by Peter Drucker, Harper & Row
Publishers, New York, 1974. (pages 176, 277, 278)
9. The Peter Principle, by Dr. Laurence J Peter and Raymond Hull, Pan Books, London,
1970.
10. The Ultimate New Employee Survival Guide, by Ed Holton, Peterson’s, Princeton,
New Jersy, 1998
11. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligence_(trait), Intelligence
12. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Office Politices, by Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D., and Bob
Rozakis, Alpha Books, Broadway, New York, 1998.
13. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, by Stephen R. Covey, A Fireside Book,
Simon & Schuster, New York, NY 1990