One Trick Pony

Are you a "one trick pony"?

Yahoo! Answers offers a good description of what a one trick pony is. See if it matches you:

The slang term "trick pony" is used to refer to something which can only be used for one very specific application. The term "a one trick pony" is also used to describe people; for example, a chef who can only produce one really good dish might be known as a one trick pony. The term is generally used in a disparaging way, since it suggests a lack of flexibility and an inability to work outside very specific parameters. Most people try to avoid creating or becoming a one trick pony for this very reason.

And I guess what I really wanted to focus on in this statement to make a point is the following: "[I]t (the one trick pony reference) suggests a lack of flexibility and an inability to work outside very specific parameters."

And so a "one trick pony" is stiff, rigid (other terms for a lack of flexibility). You've heard the phrase: "set in your ways"? You get a "one trick pony" outside its safe zone and it would rather run around a corner to hide or crawl in a closet and take the fetal position.

In this day and age of new and changing technologies in business, the survival rate of a "one trick pony" is next to zero. (Maybe it's time for you to learn some "new tricks"?)

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