The Americans and the Japanese decided to engage in a competitive balloon race. Both teams practiced hard and long to reach their peak performance. On the big day they felt ready. The Japanese won by a mile. Afterwards, the American team was discouraged by the loss. Morale sagged. Corporate management decided that the reason for the crushing defeat had to be found, so a consulting firm was hired to investigate the problem and recommended corrective action. The consultant's finding: The Japanese team had eight people steering and one person navigating; the American team had one person steering and eight people navigating. After a year of study and millions spent analyzing the problem, the consultant firm concluded that too many people were navigating and not enough were steering on the American team. So as race day neared again the following year, the American team's management structure was completely reorganized. The new structure: four navigation managers, three area navigation managers and a new performance review system for the person steering the balloon to provide work incentive. The next year, the Japanese won by two miles. Humiliated, the American corporation laid off the steerer for poor performance and gave the managers a bonus for discovering the problem.