Dead Horse Theory
The Tribal wisdom of the Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that, ??When
you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount.? However, in
government, education, and in the corporate world more advanced strategies are often
employed, such as:
? Buying a stronger whip.
? Changing riders.?ÿ
? Appointing a committee to study the horse.
? Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.
? Lowering the standards so that the dead horses can be included.
? Re-classifying the dead horse as living-impaired.
? Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
? Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.
? Providing additional funding and/or training to increase dead horse??s performance.
? Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse??s
performance.
? Declaring that the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower
overhead and, therefore, contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy
than do some other horses.
? Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses. And of course??.
? Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position.
