the tail wags the dog

See tail wagging the dog.

the tail wags the dog

1. A minor or secondary part of something is controlling or dominating the whole or the main part.
   • 1987 May 9, Gordon Gottlieb, Richard Burns, Sue Hyde, “Homocrats and Liberationists: Burns and Hyde Consider the Community's Institutions”, in Gay Community News, page 8:

     This is classic for all non-profit agencies: the tail wags the dog. If you have a foundation willing to fund a particular kind of program, then an organization will write that kind of grant. Suddenly, you're doing a program to where the bucks are. Maybe that's not within the original mission of the mission.

• tail wagging the dog
• wag the dog