American vs Japanese Management ...

A Japanese company and an American company decided to have a canoe race 
in 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.

Afterward, the American team became discouraged and depressed. American
management decided the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found.
A management team made up of senior managers was formed to investigate 
and recommend appropriate action. Their conclusion was the Japanese had 
eight people rowing and one person steering, while the American team 
had eight people steering and one person rowing. So American management 
hired a consulting company and paid them an incredible sum. After six 
months, they advised that too many people were steering the boat, while 
not enough people were rowing. To prevent losing to the Japanese again 
next year, the rowing team's management structure was totally 
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 
person 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 rower. Even new paddles and medical-benefit 
incentives were promised for a winner. "We must give the rower the 
empowerment and enrichments through this quality program."

The next year the Japanese won by two miles.

Humiliated, the American management laid off the rowers 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 for 
a job well done. 

 

How to Lie (tips)

• Stay calm. The person you're lying to will be closely monitoring your speech and behavior. The act of lying may quicken your heartbeat or increase your blood pressure. Behave as if you have nothing to hide. Beware of your own anger at being put on the spot -- this might create microexpressions of contempt or rage.
  

• Keep it simple. Lying takes great imagination and effort. While we're conjuring up alternate scenarios and realities, our minds fill in all the extra details that come in handy. Liars tend to tell far too many irrelevant details, and they do this to further "prove" the lie is the truth. More often than not, this extra information stands out because it has little or nothing to do with the question. Keeping the lie simple makes it easier to keep the "facts" straight. Adding extra details will only trip you up when the questioning focuses on the details, because these extra bits of information may not add up to a coherent and plausible lie.

• Remain steady. It's important that you keep an evenness to your mannerisms and mood before, during and after the lie. If you're feeling nervous before your lie, keep acting nervous. If you're relaxed before someone hits you with an unexpected question, stay relaxed. It's the shift in tone and body language that will clue someone in to your fabricating ways. Once the questioning is over, don't suddenly relax or appear relieved. If you were agitated while lying, stay agitated after the lying is finished. A person standing watch in a guard tower looks for motion or a change in the environment, and so too does a person looking for a lie. Give him or her as little as possible to work with.

• Make the listener like you. You're trying to tell a lie, and the listener wants to hear the truth. You must make him or her believe your lie is the truth. Think of it this­ way: We're less likely to suspect those we feel close to, partly because it would be too disruptive to the relationship to believe there is deception.

Detailed article by Tom Scheve can be read at [here]