“Work smart, and not work hard!” has become the slogan in the corporate world along with “It’s more important to be effective than efficient”.

Nothing so wrong with both, since to be efficient all you need is a robot and working hard also doesn’t mean you are a good worker. Unfortunately, some people have become quite ruthless in working smart. They ‘outsource’ even their thinking to you so you will be doing all the hard work and all the thinking, while they leech the end result off you. Just too bad they continue to receive their pay for doing nothing, while you get zilch for it.

An example of such people are those who come and tell you that there is this particular problem, what the suspected cause could be, and then ask you whether his suspicions are correct. This means that this person has been previously told what are the possible causes of a particular problem and possibly even the solution. This isn’t the same as someone having no knowledge whatsoever on what this problem maybe and where to look for the solution.

To be fair, while the reason he asked maybe a lack of experience in dealing with the problem, or is too timid to attempt the solution as it maybe tricky or hazardous, it is hard to view it as such when this person repeatedly shows no initiative in attempting to solve every problem on his own. It gives you the impression that this person is more than timid, he is simply being lazy!

Anyway, the usual outcome would be you verifying whether the conditions consistent with the suspected cause are present since this person apparently has done nothing whatsoever to confirm them. In short, they outsource the entire mental process to you while they sit back, relax and wait for you to give them the answer. And by the time you are done, you probably would have gotten to the solution as well and they would have done nothing. (Of course, one can always give this person a chewing out but then you will have no clue how this person would take it, or whether this person won’t deliberately screw it up to spite you.)

While thinking over it, I suspect it might not be a case that the person is being lazy, or timid. But rather, he’s effectively working smart! He makes you angry while you do all the work, and he sits back and just take earn his pay. And most of the time, everyone else would be too angry to even think of the possibility!!

And it has come to my notice that a lot of the people who works this way are usually of foreign origins. Now, is it of wonder why they are called ForeignFallen Talents, while we Singaporeans are looked upon as idiots by even politicians from Taiwan?

It’s perhaps high time we return some of these economic parasites the favor.

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Good reads:
Cobalt Paladin: Diary of an Entrepreneur