Riding a Dead Horse Seems To Be Really Common
January 12th, 2013 | 
Author: 
After observing an ongoing exchange in a LinkedIn discussion, I realized that there is a lot of riding a dead horse not only in social media but in business leadership, selling, marketing, organizational operations and life in general.
This riding the dead horse behavior is identified by those who keep belaboring a point just to justify their own expertise or those who totally refuse to change yet want different results. Riders of dead horses always must have the last word in any discussion.
Years ago I came across these 10 suggestions for those who are riding a dead horse:
#10 – Buy a stronger whip
#9 – Change riders
#8 – Declare, “This is the way we have always ridden this horse.”
#7 – Appoint a team to revive the horse.
#6 – Ignore the dead horse…What dead horse?
#5 – Create a training session to improve your riding skills.
#4 – Outsource contractors to ride the dead horse.
#3 – Appoint a committee to study the dead horse.
#2 – Arrange to visit others sites to see how they ride dead horses.
#1 – Harness several dead horses together for increased speed.
Of course, the Native American would answer the question of what to do when riding a dead horse with this one word:
Dismount!
Yes people do not want to change.
Yes people want their opinions to be validated.
Yes people have egos and their egos cannot withstand being told something different.
So my question for those in business leadership roles is how is riding a dead horse working for you?
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“Prospecting is a marketing skill not a selling or sales skill.”
Leanne Hoagland-Smith
Posted in Business Leadership | 
Tags: Business Leadership, Marketing, riding a dead horse, social media
2 Responses to “Riding a Dead Horse Seems To Be Really Common”
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Sales leads are like blooming flowers. Nurture them.
Interesting. This concept has been around for virtually all of my career and your points are well taken.
One element to consider is FEAR. People may ride that horse a bit too long because they have no clue as to how to change. That realization can be very scary to some people.
I believe we see it in today’s political and economic environment. Our leaders in Washington and Wall Street seem to take very strange positions and the reason is likely that they don’t know what else to do. That’s when the rhetoric gets to be tsunami size very quick.
A provocative posting – thanks!
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Yes Tom FEAR as some have said is indeed false evidence appearing real. Interesting perspective on the behaviors of those in Washington and Wall Street. I will chew on that for a while.
Thanks, Leanne Hoagland-Smith