What’s the bottom line on the Wall Street bailout?  Don’t miss this MUST READ over management-issues.com. 

You also might enjoy this insightful tidbit I received in my inbox today:

Toyota and Ford decided to have an annual canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced hard to reach their peak performance before the first race, but on the big day, the Japanese won by a mile.

Ford decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their initial findings: The Japanese had eight people rowing and one person steering. The American team had eight people steering and one person rowing.

Feeling a deeper study was in order, Ford hired a consulting company and paid a large sum for a second opinion. Their findings were the same.

Ford’s senior management recommended their canoe team be reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 3 steering directors, and one steering manager. They also implemented a new performance-management system that gave the one person rowing greater incentive to work harder. It was called the ‘Rowing Team Quality First Program,’ with meetings, dinners, and free pens for the rower. There was discussion of getting new a new canoe, paddles, and other equipment, plus extra vacation days for high levels of productivity during practices.

The next year the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American company laid off the rower for poor performance, halted development of a new canoe, sold the paddles, and canceled all investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to senior executives as bonuses and the next year’s racing team was out-sourced to India.

Yes, that’s fiction, but sadly, here are some real facts to think about:

FORD spent the last thirty years moving much of its production out of the US, claiming they can’t make money paying American wages.

TOYOTA spent the last thirty years building more than a dozen plants inside the United States.

The last quarter’s results? TOYOTA made $4.26 billion in profits while Ford racked up $7.8 billion in losses. 

Go figure!  Granted, the story is fiction, but it illustrates some important points.  Between that and the piece at management-issues.com, what is it that American companies are not understanding nor doing?

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Filed in Business, Management, Leadership, Workplace, Corporate Culture