I’ve encountered this as: the elephant and the rider. The rider knows where they’re going and can attempt to guide to elephant. The elephant can do the traversal. If the rider has no direction, the elephant will just wander. If the elephant doesn’t want to do something, there’s not much the rider can do. Take care of your elephant so you can be on the same page, but know that you cannot reason with or force it.

I’ve unfortunately seen this metaphor weaponized for workplace management where employees are viewed as dumb beasts that need the ankusha.