Which is worse - laziness or incompetence? I would say incompetence, overall. I can deal with someone who is highly competent but lazy (as long as they get their stuff done), and someone who is mildly incompetent but hardworking. I really feel for those that are mildly incompetent - I think we’ve all been there to a certain extent, especially if you’re new to the workforce. However, I can not tolerate it when someone is incompetent AND lazy. We’ve all had at least one at our company right? I don’t mean to point fingers but this one time I was getting my passport picture taken, and there were literally like five government workers doing NOTHING. They made me wait “in line” (keep in mind - I was the only one there) for like 10 minutes, and it took me another 15-20 minutes to have a picture taken and submit the paperwork. This should have taken 5 minutes tops. Ever since then, I wanted a government job.
Incompetence hands down. I doubt you will find much argument for laziness. This is one of my favorite quotes: “Men are basically smart or dumb and lazy or ambitious. The dumb and ambitious ones are dangerous and I get rid of them. The dumb and lazy ones I give mundane duties. The smart ambitious ones I put on my staff. The smart and lazy ones I make my commanders.” -Erwin Rommel
This is just ridiculous.
LOVE that quote chuck
how do u know if ur smart/dumb or lazy/incompetent? I worked my butt off to pass CFA L1, but my freind still calls me lazy (and i kind of agree)
In general, I think laziness is worse. I believe it is possible to train people that lack competence if you give them the proper mentorship or education, and assuming they have the will to succeed on their own. I view lack of competence as a function of skill, whereas laziness is really a function of character/values. I think it’s much harder to ask someone to change an aspect of their character, i.e. lack of work ethic, if they don’t have the personal disposition to do so. With that said, in defense of the “lazy” people, I also think many people that are intelligent/talented but lazy are either burnt out or just don’t have the interest to do what they’re doing anymore. I believe that with a change of scenery like new job / new hobbies, it’s possible that their competitive drive will reemerge. I encounter many people that believe they are performing below their potential at their jobs, not because they are fundamentally lazy, but rather because they are bored and aren’t working a job that aligns properly with their skills and interests. Do you know people like this?
i have both and willing to trade…
^ LOL
lolz…I honestly count myself as somewhat smart and somewhat lazy. I was very active and smart in my college life (studying hard and very involved in extra curricular activities, too) The enthusiasm continued through the initial months of office. After that, I have got pretty lazy and I am not proud of it. I believe the reason are low salary compared to market rate and low prospects of climbing up the corporate ladder in my current company. The extra quality work is never appreciated. The seniors just want to get things done on time and with less complications. I ended up losing bit of interest and I have the impression that I don’t compare that well as compared to my other same-level colleagues infront of seniors’ eyes. I am studying for CFA charter and my boss is very keen that I complete it. But I do wonder how much will they actually welcome any improvments I would want to make after learning useful and new stuff from CFA program. So, are my reasons justified or have I become inherently lazy?
Incontinence is by far the worst.
HAHAHA that reminds me of an email someone at my last firm got, the sender meant to say “bla, bla, bla … Sorry for the inconvenience” but must have misspelled “inconvenience” and MSWord suggested a correction. The sender apparently just accepted the suggested change without a final review of the email, and people talked about it for MONTHS! Anytime there was the slightest opening, you’d hear “Sorry for the incontinence!”
I know someone like that, me. Seriously, I can’t decided which is worse. I can see myself being more forgiving towards someone who is incompetent but tries hard. But at the same time, if he/she is trying so hard and still don’t get it, I tend to think they are not trying hard enough so that puts them into the lazy category? numi Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > In general, I think laziness is worse. I believe > it is possible to train people that lack > competence if you give them the proper mentorship > or education, and assuming they have the will to > succeed on their own. I view lack of competence as > a function of skill, whereas laziness is really a > function of character/values. I think it’s much > harder to ask someone to change an aspect of their > character, i.e. lack of work ethic, if they don’t > have the personal disposition to do so. > > With that said, in defense of the “lazy” people, I > also think many people that are > intelligent/talented but lazy are either burnt out > or just don’t have the interest to do what they’re > doing anymore. I believe that with a change of > scenery like new job / new hobbies, it’s possible > that their competitive drive will reemerge. I > encounter many people that believe they are > performing below their potential at their jobs, > not because they are fundamentally lazy, but > rather because they are bored and aren’t working a > job that aligns properly with their skills and > interests. Do you know people like this?
I have to say that I perceive myself as competent but lazy. When I started out in my current job, I worked extremely hard and took on several special projects. I saw that there were a lot of things that needed to be improved, so I just went ahead and did it. I was the kind of employee who solved problems without being asked to do so – a self-starter so to speak. At the end of the year, when it came to bonus and salary talks, I got nothing. I was told that I wasn’t eligible for a bonus since I had only been at the company for 6 months. A totally %@()Y& excuse. I wrote a memo on all the extra projects that I had done and highlighted how I had saved the company over 650.000. All they had to say is that they hadn’t asked me to do any of the extra work. Ever since then, I’ve been lazy. In conclusion, I would say that incompetence is worse than laziness, because laziness is something that can easily be reversed. I think there are many cases of people who’ve had similar experiences to mine, and aren’t really naturally lazy, but act lazily because they have lost faith in their employer.
Incompetence to a degree. I get really irritated when I see someone with a high level, well paying job that clearly has no clue what they are doing. I dont get irritated if I see someone with some menial job that displays incompetence because that is probably why they have that job in the first place, but the former drives me crazy. Especially in an economy like this where there are no shortage of smart, hardworking people that are unemployed.
Laziness is a character issue and probably difficult to correct, however, you can’t fix stupid…