Why America doesn't like Bailouts? You decide

A Japanese and American car company decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River.  Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race.

On the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

The American car executives, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat.  A management team made up of senior management personnel was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the Japanese had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, the management team then hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion.

They advised, of course, that too many people were steering the boat, while not enough people were rowing.

Not sure of how to utilize that information, but wanting to prevent another loss to the Japanese, the rowing team's management structure was reorganized to four steering supervisors, three area steering superintendents, and one assistant superintendent steering manager.

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the one person rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder.  They promoted it as the 'Rowing Team Quality First Program,' followed up with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the one rower.  There was also discussion of getting new paddles, canoes, and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American car executives laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment.  The money saved was distributed to the senior executives as bonuses, outsourcing next year's racing team to India.

 

 

"Freedom is Knowledge"