I believe that's known as 'The Peter Principle'.During a conversation about career progression in one of the larger organisations I've worked for, someone said, you'll get promoted until you end up in a position one above your level of competence. Then you won't get any more promotion because the bosses think you're useless! Which is neither good for you or the organisation! Oh how true I've often found that to be.
Before the corporate nightmare happened, the old owner of the company avoided that like the plague. You could get promoted but only where you could do the most good. Our current US CEO, Al, started out as a salesman and was promoted to General Manager by the owner's nephew. The owner said it wasn't a smooth move but he'd already retired. The guys' tenure as GM was bumpy. My boss, Harold, went as far as Technical Support Manager and I was the Technical Support Supervisor. I ran the shop with a few guys that answered to me and I answered to Old Weird Harold. It worked as long as the GM stayed away. When the GM stuck his nose in on our side, it was always a problem.
"But your GM said you can do this."
"What? That's not even remotely possible."
"But he said it."
"Just a minute. Al, get your ass into Harold's office. We need to talk." I was better at yelling at Al than he was at me. Odds were that I wouldn't get fired back then. Now, the place is located in an 'At Will' state. You can be shown the do for no reason. I just shake my head and walk away.