Imagine the hare and the tortoise are again in a match-up — this time on a corporate playing field. Here goes...

If it had stretched any further, the nap would have cost the hare the title. When she was in the land of nod, the tortoise gained on her and overtook her, and walked and walked till the sleeping hare was just a speck behind her.

Along the line, the hare shook herself out of the deep slumber, ran at a clip, overtook the tortoise on the last leg and won the race. The tortoise lost, but became a poster-girl for near-victories, especially of the kind that are hardly noticed though managed in unusual circumstances, especially in an unequal playing field such as the one the tortoise found herself in.