defined the Peter principle as CEO of a major private equity firm, but if that's the promotion level at which he exceeded his skills, he's still pretty darn impressive.

I've had the opportunity to deal with a bunch of PE guys over my career. A lot of them are assholes, and I've come across a few empty suits who are only there because of their connections... often their father who preceded them in the industry (but everyone in the firm knows they're an empty suit and their influence is limited), but there are a lot of REALLY smart guys and if you make it to the top to run one of those firms, you have to be pretty damn smart.