Quote: I choose a lazy person to do a hard job (Attributed to Bill Gates) (Congressional Record Help Request)

Thu Feb 13 17:26:25 UTC 2014

I'm simply disputing the notion that "lazy" carries the intended - no, the
necessary -contextual meaning, regardless of who said it, or in what
language.

Would Moltke or Gates or any other administrator assign such
responsibilities to a truly "lazy" person?  Organizational efficiency and
laziness may be compatible to some extent, but if I were looking to
streamline an operation, I wouldn't say, "Send me a lazy guy!"

JL

On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 11:51 AM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Quote: I choose a lazy person to do a hard job
> (Attributed to
>               Bill Gates) (Congressional Record Help Request)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Thank you very much for sharing a valuable lead, Dave. While exploring
> the version of the quote attributed to Walter Chrysler I did come
> across a 2011 book called "The Lazy Winner" that included a discussion
> of General von Moltke and his four types of officers on the same page
> as the saying attributed to Chrysler.
>
> When I searched for the Moltke quotation about the value of lazy
> officers I was not able to find it before a 2003 book called "The Lazy
> Way to Success" by Fred Gratzon. Have you found any cites before 2003?
>
> It is possible that the Moltke's translators expressed his ideas using
> different phrases or different vocabulary, and I have not determined
> the proper search expressions. It is also possible that Gratzon or
> someone else moved Moltke's discussion of officers from the German
> language to English relatively recently.
>
> There are a few quotations credited to Moltke in quotation references,
> but none matches the quote about four types of officers, lazy
> officers, or a value matrix.
>
> JL: Have you read anything by Moltke in your research? Based on your
> comment you do not recognize this notion of four types of officers.
>
> Garson
>
>
> On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 1:19 AM, Dave Hause <dwhause at cablemo.net> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Dave Hause <dwhause at CABLEMO.NET>
> > Subject:      Re: Quote: I choose a lazy person to do a hard job
> (Attributed to
> >               Bill Gates) (Congressional Record Help Request)
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > I see this as going much further back:
> >
> http://old-soldier-colonel.blogspot.com/2011/07/field-marshal-moltkes-four-types-of.html
> > goes into:
> > Prussian Field Marshal Helmuth Karl Bernhard Graf von Moltke (1800-1891)
> > developed this interesting Value Matrix to categorize his officer corps.
> > . Smart & Lazy: I make them my Commanders because they make the right
> thing
> > happen but find the easiest way to accomplish the mission.
> > ...
> > Although I thought I remembered it as attributed to Otto von Bismarck.
> > Dave Hause, dwhause at cablemo.net
> > Waynesville, MO
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "ADSGarson O'Toole" <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > The following statement in various forms has been attributed to tech
> > titan Bill Gates:
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > I choose a lazy person to do a hard job because a lazy person will
> > find an easy way to do it.
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > I've been asked to investigate this saying. Similar statements have
> > been ascribed to Walter Chrysler the founder of Chrysler Corporation
> > and others.
> >
> > I hypothesize that the quotation was derived from the following short
> > news item from 1947.
> >
> > [ref] 1947 February 1, Omaha World Herald, "To Solve Hard Problem,
> > Give It to 'Lazy Man'" (CTPS News Service), Quote Page 1, Column 2,
> > Omaha, Nebraska. (NewspaperArchive)[/ref]
> >
> > [Begin excerpt]
> > To Solve Hard Problem, Give It to 'Lazy Man'
> >
> > A tip on how to solve difficult production problems was given the
> > Senate Labor Committee Friday by Clarence E. Bleicher, president of
> > the Chrysler Corporation's De Soto division.
> >
> > "When I have a tough job in the plant and can't find an easy way to do
> > it," Mr. Bleicher said, "I have a lazy man put on it. He'll find an
> > easy way to do it in 10 days. Then we adopt that method."
> > [End excerpt]
> >
> > You can help trace this quotation if you are willing and if you have
> > access to a database of the Congressional Record such as the one
> > provided by ProQuest. It is possible that the testimony by Clarence E.
> > Bleicher was placed into the Congressional Record.
> >
> > If you find a match please send me the small PDF with the matching
> > text (or jpeg screen shots). I am trying to create a complete and
> > accurate citation. Hence, data such as (1) title of the hearing (2)
> > name of the committee (3) date of the testimony (4) name of the
> > speaker (should be Bleicher) etcetera are important.
> >
> > If you look and do not find a match please let me know.
> >
> > With appreciation,
> > Garson
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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