A wisdom from the Dakota Indians says,
“If you discover that you are riding a dead horse, get off.”
But in professional life we often try other strategies according to which we act in this situation:
We get a stronger whip.
We change the riders.
We say, “That’s how we always rode the horse.”
We start a working group to analyze the horse.
We visit other places to see how dead horses are ridden there.
We raise the quality standards for riding dead horses.
We are forming a task force to revive the dead horse.
We push in a training session to learn to ride better.
We make comparisons of different dead horses.
We change the criteria that say if a horse is dead.
We buy people from outside to ride the dead horse.
We’re tossing several dead horses together to make them faster.
We declare, “No horse can be so dead that you can not beat it.”
We make extra resources available to increase the performance of the horse.
We are doing a study to see if there are cheaper consultants.
We buy something that makes dead horses run faster.
We explain that our horse is “better, faster and cheaper” dead.
We form a quality circle to find a use for dead horses
We revise the performance conditions for horses.
We are setting up an independent cost center for dead horses.
We pay a vet who reorganizes the horse’s interior.
We exchange the dead horse for a dead cow.
We buy a living mouse and connect it to the dead horse for it to run again.
We create PowerPoint slides that show what the horse could do if it lived.
We form a new department and integrate all dead horses to exploit synergies.
We change the horse supplier.
We are reengineering the Dead Horse Support.
We are looking for a financially strong partner and start a joint venture with their dead horses.
We are listing the dead horses on the stock market under a fanciful name.
We call the dead horse “Dead Horse Power” and offer it as the newest product on the Central African market.