Four Types of Soldiers

I heard the Chinese version of the following story
a long time ago and it took root. Every revisit
brought a good laugh and refreshed admiration for
the military genius or, in case it was apocryphal,
whoever that invented it.

> Napoleon was supposed to have once explained to
> an inquirer, "There are four types of soldiers.
> The first are the dumb and lazy. These I make my
> infantrymen. The second are the smart and
> energetic. These I make my field commanders. The
> third type are the smart and lazy. These I make
> my generals."
> 
> The inquirer, then replied, "That's just three
> types. What of the dumb and energetic?"
> 
> Napoleon, without skipping a beat, replied, "I
> have them shot."

It seemed I had since forgotten the dialog, until
recently when talking with a friend about my
employment history. I realized I have met three
types in the leaders.

My boss at my first real job in Beijing and my
Canadian PhD advisor were smart and lazy. They are
now both very successful in their worldly affairs.
Another professor and three or four of my bosses,
including the current one, were smart and
energetic. The professor has long retired and the
rest are mid-level managers. I have enjoyed
working with both types. I haven't had a dumb and
lazy boss. Unfortunately, three other bosses were
not very smart but still working energetically in the
industry.

As a programmer, I myself have often felt dumb and 
frustrated. Had I always been healthy as I am 
these days, I could have written better code and
fixed more bugs that made me proud or simply had
more fun doing these things. It was great luck 
that I have been allowed to code this long.

[7grizzly]

回复 '暖冬cool夏' 的评论 : Writing is re-writing, I heard that many times. I remember my professor's reviews of my paper drafts finally fixed "it's" in place of "its" problem for me ;-) At the time, I thought his job was easy. It was not and it took time to get there.

[暖冬cool夏]

回复 '7grizzly' 的评论 : Yes,the preposition "for" implies your direction,your goal, while "with" might mean "existing", that you are general yourself but are not content with it :))). I made my mistake too yesterday when I said "you are like the sunshine that facilitates its growth" (not "it's", which is the cell phone's fault). One good thing about writing is that sometimes it suddenly dawns on me that I made mistakes in the prior writings (oblivious vs oblivion, etc.). This is what is called practice. Let's all keep it up. Sorry for such a long one.

[7grizzly]

I meant I would settle _for_ that! Thanks!

[7grizzly]

> Can I say that being lazy is a virtue?
It definitely is but I don't know if that's a born or acquired talent.

> In my eyes, you are just not lazy enough:))
Not feeling the need to be the general, I'll settle with that ;-) Thank you very much!

[暖冬cool夏]

The story is interesting, and so is your correlation to your experience. Can I say that being lazy is a virtue? LOL. History proves that laziness is the mother of inventions. Additionally, like in your story, the key to success is being lazy. Being smart is not enough to be the general, you have to be lazy too, to order people around for executions, as is the norm with a company nowadays. You are being humble in saying that you often felt dumb. In my eyes, you are just not lazy enough:)). Have a relaxed and lazy Sunday!