Why it's better to be lazy, by Jeremy MeyerEveryone can be loosely classified into 4 groups, which are permutations of either activeness or laziness and , intelligence or stupidity.
Intelligent Lazy people, as my father would explain, are everyone's favourite. They do things in a smart way in order to expend the least effort. They don't rush into things, taking that little bit of extra time to think and find the shortest, best path. They tend to make what they do repeatable so they don't have to go through it all again. These people usually make good leaders, and they are good to have on teams.
Intelligent Active people are useful, because they are smart, after all, but their intelligence can be slightly diluted or tempered by their activity. Where they don't have a perfect solution, they might act anyway, rather than sitting on their laurels, so useful people but not great leaders, and on a team, they can often put noses out of joint by acting too early and too fast.
Stupid Lazy people have their place too, they are easy to manage, they generally don't act on their own initiative too much and, given tasks that are not beyond them, they will perform in a predictable, consistent manner. Usually they won't cause any harm on teams. Wellington, liked these people as foot soldiers.
Stupid Active people are the dangerous ones. Their default behaviour is to act, and in the absence of skill or thought they can cause all types of trouble.