I am constantly amazed at the number of ways this sentiment is expressed.  In the business world, it is most often heard as "In a bacon and eggs breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed."

After breakfast, you still have the chicken around, but the pig, as a pig, has given its all so that you could eat.

Wise project managers look at their projects as if they were the pig, not the chicken.  Team members constantly contribute the results that bring a project to succcessful conclusions.  The challenge for the project manager is to ensure that the client is happy with eggs for breakfast and will not seek to add bacon during the tenure of the project.

While there are no outright references to these sayings in the Tao, the end of Verse 17* alludes to a project where results are constantly delivered.

"The great ruler speaks little
     and his words are priceless
He works without self-interest
     and leaves no trace
When all is finished, the people say,
     "It happened by itself""

* Tao Te Ching, the Definitive Edition, Lao Tzu with translation and commentary by Jonathan Star, Jeremy P Tarcher/Penguin, New York, 2001, page 30.