This is guaranteed to get giggles and many nodding heads at your next strategic planning session. It’s another way of saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting to get a different result.

Dakota tribal wisdom says that when you discover the horse you are riding is dead, the best strategy is to dismount. However, in organizations, we often try other strategies with dead horses, including the following:

• Change riders
• Say things like "This is the way we have always ridden this horse"
• Appoint a committee to study the horse
• Arrange to visit other sites to see how they ride dead horses
• Change the requirements, declaring "This horse is not dead"
• Harness several horses together for increased speed

Origin unknown. Thanks to Vicki Kranenburg.