What is Goat Rodeo?
1.
A situation that order cannot be brought to any time.
Traffic in Denver, Colorado at 5:00 p.m. is a goat rodeo
2.
A Goat Rodeo AKA Goat Rope, is about the most polite term used by aviation people (and others in higher risk situations) to describe a scenario that requires about 100 things to go right at once if you intend to walk away from it.
This meeting is a goat rodeo.
3.
A chaotic situation, often one that involves several people, each with a different agenda/vision/perception of what's going on; a situation that is very difficult, despite energy and efforts, to instill any sense or order into
"Management's nuts. By the time each of them has his say and policy gets to us, it's a goat rodeo."
"We had Ondine's fifth birthday party yesterday. What a goat rodeo!"
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4.
A situation that has all the risks and none of the rewards. In a real rodeo, cowboys risk their necks, but they get to look cool. If the cowboys rode goats, they'd have just as much risk of injury, and wouldn't look cool. Such a situation has two possible outcomes: really bad or slightly less bad. Having forseen such a situation, you're best bet is to not enter the Rodeo.
"We decided not to submit our wine in the "Two-buck-chuck Taste-off" because we didn't want to get into a Goat Rodeo."
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5.
A sales or bidding process where the natural tendency for multiple people to "pile on," express their opinions, and interject creates inherent instability and increases the probability of overreaction and/or loss.
"The Financial System bidding process has become a Goat Rodeo...with 10 Partners all trying to ride the goat."
6.
An emergency situation that goes extremely bad.
Last night we had a real goat rodeo; it's the weekend payday syndrome.
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