Once upon a time an American automobile company and the Japanese decided to have a competitive boat race on the Detroit River. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance. On the big day, they were as ready as they could be. The Japanese won by a mile! Afterwards, the American team became very discouraged by the loss and morale sagged. Corporate management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found. A Continuous Measurable Improvement Team of "Executives" was set up to investigate the problem and to recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion: The problem was that the Japanese team had eight people rowing and one person steering, whereas the American team had one person rowing and eight people steering. The American Corporate Steering Committee immediately hired a consulting firm to do a study on the management structure. After some time and many dollars, the consulting firm concluded that "too many people were steering and not enough rowing". To prevent losing to the Japanese again next year, the management structure was changed to four steering managers, three area steering managers, and one staff steering manager. A new performance system was added for the person rowing the boat to give more incentive to work harder and become a six-sigma performer. "We must give him empowerment and enrichment. The productive potential of the American worker is unparalleled..." was the consensus. The next year, the Japanese won by two miles. The American corporation laid off the rower for poor performance, sold all the paddles, cancelled all capital investments for new equipment, halted development of a new canoe, awarded high performance awards to the consulting firm and distributed the money saved as bonuses to the senior executives.