The Peter Principle: Why Things Always Go Wrong by Laurence Peter and Raymond Hull highlights a strange phenomenon in organizations, something we're all too familiar with: incompetence rises.

This humorous book points to case studies in organizations of various fields, showing how competent people are promoted to a position where they become incompetent, achieving the modern man's unconscious goal of "True Life Incompetence."

The writer calls this topic "hierarchyology." It's a short and easy-to-read book, and Mr. Peter concludes that instead of aiming up to obtain status, recognition, and any artificial sense of self-worth, aim forward.

So the natural question to ask next is in what direction? To use his words, "You figure it out."

Anecdotally, I remember asking for career advice from a retired police officer I went to the same gym with. I said I was considering the police department as a career option after high school, and he said to me, "Look, Warlock, being a cop is like working in any large organization, but with a gun and a badge. All large entities, you will see about 10% doing the actual work, another 10% circle-jerking, playing politics, and the rest 80% doing the bare minimum to cut their check. If you truly believe in keeping the peace by law enforcement, then being a cop won't serve you."

I went on to art school instead.