Dead Horse Theory: why changing strategy matters

Dead Horse Theory: why changing strategy matters

The “Dead Horse Theory” is a well-known business concept that explains the tendency of individuals and organisations to cling to ineffective strategies even when they fail to deliver the desired results.

Symptoms of dead horses that may sound familiar include:

1. Buying a stronger whip.
2. Changing the rider.
3. Threatening the horse with dismissal.
4. Appointing a working group to investigate the horse.
5. Benchmarking, always popular, to see how others ride dead horses.
6. Lowering standards so dead horses can be included.
7. Reclassifying the dead horse as “living-impaired”.
8. Hiring outside firms and consultants to ride the dead horse.
9. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase their speed.
10. Providing additional funding and/or training to improve the dead horse’s performance.
11. Conducting a productivity study to determine whether lighter riders would improve the dead horse’s performance.
12. Declaring that, because the dead horse does not need feeding, it costs less and therefore makes a greater contribution to the bottom line.
13. Redefining the expected performance requirements for all horses.
14. Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position to hire another horse.

But when should you persevere with a failing project, and when is it time to pull the plug? The symptoms listed above are a good indicator: has another dead horse just been promoted in your organisation, for example? That is sufficient reason to recognise proactively that the project or initiative is no longer viable.

Conclusion:

🔍 Stay alert: look out for the symptoms of dead horses.
📊 Keep an eye on your metrics: monitor successes and failures.
✂️ Dare to cut your losses: do not hesitate when something is not working.
🌟 Be open to change: adapt your strategy to new circumstances.

Changing strategy is therefore not a sign of weak leadership or past mistakes. On the contrary, it expresses leaders’ strength in decision-making and their determination.

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