THE "EFFICIENT FOOL"

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 117, 13 November 1929, Page 14

THE "EFFICIENT FOOL"

Business men must learn to suffer fools gladly, for the unintelligent worker has at last come into his own according to Dr. Little, the American scientist, who recently arrived in England to take part in the conference arranged by the Society of Chemical Industries in Manchester. Discussing psychological research in the United States, Dr. Little said to a representative of the "Manchester Guardian":— We found that men of an intelligent type very quickly become resentful of their work, while men of a lower order of mentality are often perfectly happy m it. I know of one. psychologist who told me that he had just been called upon to look over the staff of a large company where there was a very heavy turnover of l*bour, but curiously, however, where the best workmen were staying on indefinitely in perfect contentment. Examination showed that all those doing the.best work were of a comparatively low order of intelligence. My friend's recommendation to the firm was to select stupidity and train it. It has done so, and its troubles are over."