HUMOROUS FICTION
TOYOTA BECOMES NUMBER ONE CAR COMPANY; THANKS GENERAL MOTORS
“Thank you so much for making Toyota number one,” the chairman of Toyota, Fujio Cho, said to Richard Wagoner, the CEO of General Motors, and leaned across the conference table to shake his hand.
“Think nothing of it,” Mr. Wagoner replied, obliging the Japanese exec. “The credit belongs entirely to you and your quality-obsessed company.”
“No, no,” the Japanese CEO insisted. “We could never have done it without your reliable incompetence.”
“On the contrary, sir,” the GM CEO replied, eyeing the other American and Japanese executives arrayed around the conference table, “the credit is entirely due to your astonishing competence. After all, you and your company have figured out how to make cars people actually want to buy – form and function, attractively combined.”
“Yes, I think that’s true,” the CEO of Toyota conceded.
“And you’ve figured out how to make cars that are legendarily reliable,”
Wagoner went on.
“Yes, I must also agree with that.”
“Then how is it possible that you are thanking me for helping to make you number one?” Mr. Wagoner wanted to know. “I do not deserve any of the credit whatsoever!”
“But, don’t you see, Mr. Wagoner? We owe our success to the fact that you have not quite figured out how to make cars that people really want!”
FULL STORY
|