alt Hacker NewsGerman General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord (a high-ranking army officer in the Reichswehr/Wehrmacht era):
“I divide my officers into four groups. There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined.
Some are clever and diligent — their place is the General Staff.
The next lot are stupid and lazy — they make up 90% of every army and are suited to routine duties.
Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership posts, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions.
One must beware of anyone who is both stupid and diligent — he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief.”
Replies
I much prefer the Napolean attributed joke version where diligent is replaced with energetic. It ends with Napolean being asked "but general what about the fourth group, stupid and energetic?"
"I have them shot".
I think this heuristic used to be more useful before it became widely known. Laziness is a fine quality if diligence is publicly rewarded, but once people game the metrics to look more lazy than they really are, things break
And that's why Peter Gibbons is clearly management material!
Where my fellow ninety-percenters at?