Slightly OT: Dividing soldiers

[copeab]

"I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Most often two of these qualities come together. The officers who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Those who are stupid and lazy make up around 90% of every army in the world, and they can be used for routine work. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!"

-- General Kurt Von Hammerstein-Equord, German Army (1933)

Applies to any sufficiently large organization, really ...

Why is clever/lazy best for leadership? Very unlikely to micromanage but smart enough to see when he needs to step in. The clever/industrious person is less likely to be able to delegate power to others.

[Tegyrius]

Brandon, thank you for posting this. I've been looking for the source of this rule for years.

- C.

[General Pain]

Originally Posted by copeab

"I divide my officers into four classes; the clever, the lazy, the industrious, and the stupid. Most often two of these qualities come together. The officers who are clever and industrious are fitted for the highest staff appointments. Those who are stupid and lazy make up around 90% of every army in the world, and they can be used for routine work. The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations. But whoever is stupid and industrious is a menace and must be removed immediately!"

-- General Kurt Von Hammerstein-Equord, German Army (1933)

Applies to any sufficiently large organization, really ...

Why is clever/lazy best for leadership? Very unlikely to micromanage but smart enough to see when he needs to step in. The clever/industrious person is less likely to be able to delegate power to others.

LOL...this explains everything.

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by copeab

"The man who is clever and lazy however is for the very highest command; he has the temperament and nerves to deal with all situations."

-- General Kurt Von Hammerstein-Equord, German Army (1933)

Man, I'm in the wrong business, then. I should have gone to West Point!

[pmulcahy11b]

The General forgot one type of officer: the lazy ones who are clever enough to make it look like every good idea was theirs, and every bad idea was someone else's fault.

[Adm.Lee]

I've seen that before, I think it was in Clausewitz, and I think it was the other way around.

Smart/ambitious: Make them unit leaders

Smart/unambitious: Make them staff officers for the leaders.

Dumb/unambitious: leave them alone, on their own they will find a quiet out-of-the-way spot where they can't do much harm.

Dumb/ambitious: get rid of them before they kill someone!

[CStock88]

Of course, all of these can also be applied to every single person I have every worked with in the last 6 six years of being a grocer.

[pmulcahy11b]

This has nothing to do with the topic, actually, but when I first read the name of this thread, the first thing that popped into my head was the story of Solomon and the baby...