4 Traits That Determine the Level Of Success One Can Achieve

Som Bathla

Published in

The Startup

2 min readFeb 24, 2018

“I choose a lazy person to do a hard job. Because a lazy person will find an easy way to do it.” ~ Bill Gates

Bill Gates was not the first proponent of the above idea.

One German General Kurt Von Hammerstein-Equord, was much earlier using this specific categorization to assess what kind of people deserve to become ultra successful. He used this criteria while selecting his officers in his army.

Here is what he stated:

“I divide my officers into four groups.
There are clever, diligent, stupid, and lazy officers. Usually two characteristics are combined.
1. Some are clever and diligent — their place is the General Staff.
2. The next lot are stupid and lazy — they make up 90 percent of every army and are suited to routine duties.
3. Anyone who is both clever and lazy is qualified for the highest leadership duties, because he possesses the intellectual clarity and the composure necessary for difficult decisions.
4. One must beware of anyone who is stupid and diligent — he must not be entrusted with any responsibility because he will always cause only mischief.