A Japanese company (Toyota) and an American company (Ford Motors) 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 Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management 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 7 people steering and 2 people rowing. 

Feeling  a deeper study was in order; American management 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 totally reorganized to 4 steering supervisors, 2 area steering superintendents and 1 assistant superintendent steering manager. 

They also implemented a new performance system that would give the 2 people rowing the boat greater incentive to work harder. It was called the ‘Rowing Team Quality First Program,’ with meetings, dinners and free pens for the rowers. There was discussion of getting new paddles, canoes and other equipment, extra vacation days for practices and bonuses. The pension program was trimmed to ‘equal the competition’ and some of the resultant savings were channeled into morale boosting programs and teamwork posters. 

The next year the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American management laid-off one rower, halted development of a new canoe, sold all the paddles, and canceled all capital investments for new equipment. The money saved was distributed to the Senior Executives as bonuses. The next year, try as he might, the lone designated rower was unable to even finish the race (having no paddles,) so he was laid off for unacceptable performance, all canoe equipment was sold and the next year’s racing team was out-sourced to India. 

Sadly, the End. 

Commentary: This story will ring true with many that have worked in the American corporate world (especially in these financial times). One way for American companies to regain the edge is to follow “The Toyota Way” - Toyota’s Principles they operate by every day. Also note that American car manufacturers have been complaining about American workers for decades, building plants overseas, yet Toyota seems to do just fine, building a large percentage of their cars in America now - it’s usually not the workers, it’s the management and strategy. 

“If you don’t design your own life plan, chances are you’ll fall into someone else’s plan. And guess what they have planned for you? Not much.” — Jim Rohn

Commentary: I believe planning your life is as important as planning your business, yet many still put more thought into their wedding, their next car purchase, the lottery or their enemies than they do on actually making a plan for their life. If you don’t plan your life, you’ll simply wander through life aimlessly. In fact, Michael Gerber speaks about this in The E-Myth; designing your business around your life plan.

Shoemoney has a good post on why most people fail in business. He’s made a TON of money online and hosts regular Q&A for aspiring entrepreneurs who can’t seem to make it for one reason or another.

Reasons include:

• Fear
• Excuses (his #1 reason)
• Stress (small business ownership is stressful)
• Comfort (especially if you have an existing 9 to 5 job)
• The Dip (the inevitable downturn of your business)
• Motivation
• Laziness and from the comments: Wasting Time on Instant Messaging, Games, MySpace, etc.