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September 10, 2007

Flogging a dead horse ....

Some things seem to be universal for politicians and civil servants everywhere in the world. In the extended post below is a very clever take on this from South Africa. And, having lived there and elsewhere now I can say without equivocation that I think it must be a genetic condition which predisposes people to become civil servants and politicians and to think in that way.

Do read the extended post and you'll see what I mean ....

Tribal wisdom.

Dakota Native American tribal wisdom, passed on from generation to generation, says: "When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount and get a different horse."

However, in government, education and corporate Southern Africa, more
advanced strategies are often employed, such as:

1. Buying a stronger whip.

2. Changing riders.

3. Appointing a committee to study the horse.

4. Arranging to visit other countries to see how other cultures ride dead horses.

5. Lowering the standards so that the dead horse can be included.

6. Reclassifying the dead horse as 'living impaired'.

7. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse.

8. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase speed.

9. Providing additional funding and / or training to increase dead horse's performance.

10. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance.

11. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overheads & therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses.

12. Rewriting the expected performance requirements for all horses.

And of course ....

13. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position!

If you understand the above, then you are obviously a South African.

Posted by The Gray Monk at September 10, 2007 09:22 AM

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Comments

Love #11 & #12, #13 just makes me angry. All I have ever asked in a boss is to be as smart as I am. That doesn't mean that they have to know more then me in my field, but be smart enough to know that I know more and trust me to do whats right. I guess living through too many #13's makes me a bit bitter about even joking about it.

Posted by: skipjack at September 10, 2007 11:34 PM

Like you I have worked for too many #13's in my time - but I find the only way to stay sane myself is to joke about it.

Posted by: The Gray Monk at September 11, 2007 06:09 AM