Wednesday, April 03, 2002

Just got this in the mail, does it ring any bells?

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, hang a banana on
a string and place a set of stairs under it. Before long, a monkey will go to
the stairs and start to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touches the
stairs, spray all of the other monkeys with cold water. After a while,
another monkey makes an attempt with the same result - all the other monkeys
are sprayed with cold water. Pretty soon, when another monkey tries to climb
the stairs, the other monkeys will try to prevent it. Now, put away the cold
water. Remove one monkey from the cage and replace it with a new one.The new
monkey sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs. To his surprise and
horror, all of the other monkeys attack him. After another attempt and
attack, he knows that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.
Next, remove another of the original five monkeys and replace it with a new
one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked, and the previous
newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, replace a
third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth,and then the fifth. Every
time the newest monkey takes to the stairs, he is attacked.Most of the monkeys
that are beating him have no idea why they were not permitted to climb the
stairs or why they are participating in the beating of the newest
monkey.After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining
monkeys have ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever
again approaches the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as
they know, that's the way it's always been done around here.

And that, my dear friends, is how company policy is born.

Bill | 4/03/2002 01:21:00 AM |

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