Imagine Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson on the eve of a massive Champions League game popping over to Spain to give the Real Madrid coaching team a few tips on how to beat his side.
Or England cricket coach Peter Moores jetting off to Sydney for a chat with the Aussies about tactics ahead of next summer's Ashes showdown.
It's hard to imagine that, isn't it? It just wouldn't happen.
But take this admittedly far-fetched analogy into the complex world of employer-led skills training and the line between fact and fiction starts to blur.
Skills chief Chris Humphries has touched down back in the UK today after a whirlwind trip to China. The reason he was there? To advise them on how to engage employers and 'create an effective skills system'.
That's right - our skills supremo has been helping out the main competition.
We are forever hearing from the government that the UK needs to boost its skills levels by 2020 of face being left in the shadow of the Tiger economies of China and India. The Leitch Review warned that the UK faced a bleak future if it couldn't compete with the workforce from the Far East and sub-continent.
So what do we do? Send our man over there to show them how to do it. What is going on? I understand the principles behind collaboration and exchanging ideas on best practice, but this seems crazy.
Perhaps it's a case of keeping your friends close but your enemies even closer. I wonder if Humphries threw the Chinese a massive curveball which will bring their fledgling skills structures crashing down?
Maybe that's just wishful thinking. Whatever happened, the UK is going to find it hard enough to meet its own challenging skills targets and compete in the globalised economy. Giving a helping hand to the country that could kick sand in our face seems like muddled thinking.
