The 7 Flaws of Useful People
Peter de Jager is a provocative Speaker,
Writer and Consultant. His primary focus in on how we manage change,
technology and the future. In addition to speaking at conferences
worldwide, he's also writen monthly columns for CIO Magazine and
Computerworld Canada. His goal is always to question what we
think is so, and in so doing perhaps open up new opportunities. If you'd like permission to reprint any
of Peter's articles, please contact him directly. You can contact him at Or sign the Guest
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pdejager@technobility.com
Look around your organization and depending on how lucky, or unlucky you are, you’ll find them hiding in nearly every department. You’ll have to look carefully, because they don’t always seek the limelight, sometimes with good reason. They’re the fickle, lazy, opinionated, uncertain, pessimistic, simple minded, clock watching employees!
Before you go searching for them with the intent of firing them, keep in mind they could be the keystones of your organization. Remove them, and you might be removing the glue
holding your organization together. These are the useful people upon which every organization knowingly or unknowingly depends. Treat them well, they’re the unsung heroes of
your success.
The Fickle: A politician can commit no greater crime today than to change their mind. When they do, we label them as “wishy-washy”. That’s a perverse label for someone with the integrity to contradict a past belief when they find evidence to the contrary. Far from being wishy-washy, those who publicly retract past beliefs are champions of integrity. Their only other option is to hold to past beliefs, even when they have proof they were wrong.
The Lazy: Ever since Pope Gregory the Great (6th Century) formalized the list of seven deadly sins, we’ve wrongly judged and reviled laziness. Here’s the truth about sloth;
all progress is due to the lazy. Laziness is what compels us to seek out the easiest way to do something. If not for laziness, we wouldn’t have the lever, the plough or the bulldozer. The underlying philosophy of laziness is that there is
always an easier way to do something. That to expend more energy than necessary is a criminal waste of resources. Laziness is the root cause of progress, and the doting parent of efficiency.
The Opinionated: People with opinions are people who choose to think. When they then voice those opinions, they serve as the checks and balances of our organizations. In a society structured as hierarchy, opinionated people are necessary if we desire all levels to get involved in the decision making process. Without opinionated people, all thought, regardless of quality, would trickle down from above, unchallenged by those who work directly with our customers.
The Uncertain: Certainty is highly overrated; it erects fortifications against prudence. The Captain of the Titanic was certain the ship was unsinkable; the CEO of Enron was certain he’d get away with unethical behaviour; and teenagers are certain they’re invulnerable. True certainty is a rare, almost nonexistent commodity. More valuable to us is a healthy dose of uncertainty spiked with the harsh tang of skepticism. Uncertainty focuses us on the task, certainty merely breeds complacency.
The Pessimistic: This outlook is an inbred cousin to uncertainty, it takes the view that not only might things go wrong, they will go wrong and we must accordingly plan for disaster. If we always see the glass as half-empty then we’re focused on improving the situation, usually by ordering another pint. The half-full glass is more likely to elicit nothing more than a burp
(excuse me) of contentment. We can make most things better, but only if we’re unsatisfied with our lot. Discontent is the disenfranchised mother of invention; necessity is only the pretender to the throne.
The Simple Minded: Life isn’t complex. We eat (and the opposite of eating – this is after all - a family article), we sleep and do things to make eating, and safe places to sleep, possible. The rest of the time we seek happiness. We can avoid most people problems by following the Golden Rule. Most of the remaining problems are avoided by paying attention to the task at hand and avoiding shortcuts. And the few problems remaining are solved with creativity, determination and patience… which for some, are forms of happiness. Bottom line? Life is good.
The Clock Watcher: Time moves faster than we think. Dates on the calendar are closer than they appear. Doing it now, is nearly always better than waiting until tomorrow. Those who pay attention to the swift passage of time are those who keep us on time. Their efforts are seldom appreciated. Everyone hates to be nagged, especially those who need the nagging, who would be late if not nagged, who would never complete a task if not nagged. Nags keep the world turning, without them we’d all be still asleep.
I started writing this with tongue firmly implanted in cheek, intending to have some fun by finding value within commonly perceived flaws. It turns out that humour is also an unexpected path to usefulness and insight.
© 2005 Peter de Jager – Peter really is a fickle, lazy, opinionated, uncertain, pessimistic, simple minded, clock watching speaker, consultant and writer. He’s interested in all things related to Management, but especially Change Management.
Contact him at
Pdejager@technobility.com
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