[AnAmericanMother]

This is like the four-way analysis often attributed to Rommel (though never satisfactorily documented):

There are four types of man, either active or lazy, and either smart or stupid.

The lazy stupid man is harmless; you may ignore him.

The active stupid man is very dangerous; get rid of him (alternatively: send him to the Eastern Front!)

The active smart man I make a colonel of brigade.

But the active lazy man I put on my general staff!

[nascarnation]

What happens to the lazy smart man in your analysis?

[robowombat]

This is a very old topology around the German army long before Rommel although he may well have quoted it. Some attribute it to the elder Moltke, although he would be too diplomatic to ever say it outside of a tight circle of friends. The phrase ‘the actively stupid’ really strikes a nerve in the US Army with its emphasis on templates and endless and purposeless busy work and its stiflingly stupid bureaucracy. Each time i told this story at least one field grade officer displayed either aggravation or real anger. ‘Takes one to know one’. I thought but didn't say.