Have you ever heard of a German military leader who
celebrated, even rewarded laziness? What a preposterous question, you must be
thinking. Given the overwhelming industriousness of the entire Germanic
population since the beginning of time, it seems impossible there could be such
a leader. Yet, there was. He is an anomaly, to be sure, but he definitely
existed. And he was important. He was General Helmuth von Moltke who served as
chief of the German General Staff from 1858 to 1888. Under his leadership the
German military became the model for all modern armies.
General von Moltke divided the entire officer corps into
four distinct types, depending on their mental and physical characteristics: 1)
mentally dull and physically lazy, 2) mentally bright and physically energetic,
3) mentally dull and physically energetic, and 4) bright and lazy.
The officers who were both mentally dull and physically lazy
were given simple, repetitive, unchallenging tasks.
The officers who were both mentally bright and physically
energetic, Von Moltke felt were obsessed with micromanagement and accordingly
would be poor leaders. Therefore, he never promoted this type of officer to the
status of commanding officer of the German General Staff.
The officers who were mentally dull but physically
energetic, Von Moltke considered dangerous. To him, they were walking, talking
mistake generators that required constant supervision. Because they created
messes faster than could be fixed, these officers were too much trouble and
were dismissed.
The mentally bright yet physically lazy officer, our hero,
is the type of person Von Moltke felt should ascend to the lofty heights of
ultimate command. Why? Because he is smart enough to see what needs to be done
but is also motivated by laziness to find the easiest, simplest way to succeed.
And, of course, such an officer would never sully his hands with details,
vastly preferring to delegate those concerns to the eager beaver types.
www.lazyway.net
way to go...
rohan
Posted by: Rohan | February 14, 2006 at 02:04 AM
Sounds rational to me.
Posted by: MJ | February 14, 2006 at 02:53 AM
Beautiful insight into human beings.
Posted by: Harpreet | February 14, 2006 at 03:33 AM
I am commander in chief of this army.
Posted by: Aaron | February 14, 2006 at 12:31 PM
I was born way too late.
Posted by: biosparite | February 14, 2006 at 02:16 PM
bravo! there is yet hope for me!
sadly, corporate america wants the bunch that are both mentally dull and physically energetic ;)
Posted by: saleh nasir | February 17, 2006 at 02:30 PM
Bravo, you are clearly a genious, and leave a ray of hope to all of us struggling to be "lazy", yet monetarily sound at the same time. -Elaine: www.thetrumptowers.com
Posted by: Elaine | February 23, 2006 at 01:55 PM
Hi.
Nice story. This strikes me as similar to House (of the TV show House) and they way he works.
Cheers!
Posted by: Andre | February 23, 2006 at 07:54 PM
he missed out a military type surely...the mentally dull but destrutive pervert with a fixation on anhilation...?
Posted by: zzz | August 31, 2007 at 09:43 AM
I think I fit into the 5th category: Just plain bonkers and physically sexy.
Posted by: Josh Reiter | November 13, 2008 at 01:42 PM
I think I fit into the 5th category: Just plain bonkers and physically sexy.
Posted by: knight gold | June 12, 2010 at 09:21 AM
i can qualify myself on the 3rd, i don't know but i can also be the 4th one
- Jack Leak
Posted by: Jack's Customized Fat Loss | September 02, 2011 at 07:40 PM