The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians passed on from generation to generation says that when you discover you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount. In modern education and government, far more advanced strategies have emerged:
1 – Buy a stronger whip.
2 – Change riders.
3 – Threaten the horse with termination.
4 – Appoint a committee to study the horse.
5 – Visit other countries to see how others ride dead horses.
6 – Lower the standards so that dead horses can be included.
7 – Reclassify the dead horse as “living impaired.”
8 – Hire outside contractors to ride the dead horse.
9 – Harness several dead horses together to increase the speed.
10 – Provide additional funding or training to increase the dead horse’s performance.
11 – Create study to see if lighter riders will improve the dead horse’s performance.
12 – Declare the dead horse contributes to the economy as less costly to maintain.
13 – Rewrite expected performance requirements for all horses.
14 – Promote dead horse to a supervisory position.
15 – Leverage the dead horse.
16 – Craft a win-win agreement with the dead horse.
17 – Build a glide path for the dead horse.
18 – Customize someone else’s dead horse to meet our requirements.
19 – Empower the dead horse.
20 – Train the dead horse to envision the desired outcome of his work.