The deer that was a horse

Zhao Gao had, by then, the emperor in his hand and was planning to take the throne. He wanted to know who in the court would oppose him, so he brought a deer before the young emperor and said: this is a fine horse.

The emperor laughed and said: the minister is mistaken, this is a deer.

Zhao Gao asked the officials. Some stayed silent. Some said horse. Some said deer.

Zhao Gao quietly destroyed the men who said deer, after which little surprise in that court went unrehearsed.

I think about this story less for the cruelty than for the silence. The men who said nothing had learned something that would keep them alive, and they carried that knowledge for years. Most of the work of a declining institution is done by reasonable people choosing not to count.

The uncomfortable question is which version of the deer test happens in a room you're in. It's rarely as clean as this. It's a number nobody believes in a meeting, a person the room has silently decided not to discuss.

What's the deer in your workplace? You know. The point is not to have an argument today. The point is to find one other person who also sees it, because the silence is what makes it real.

MOJOWAY's value there is smaller and earlier. A private record of what you actually concluded before the room spoke is the cheapest protection against being talked out of your own eyes.