Monkey Business. Corporate Lessons Again.

Ponder this:

Start with a cage containing five monkeys. In the cage, hang a banana
on a string and put 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 monkeys with cold water.
After awhile, another monkey makes an attempt with the same result.
Pretty soon, when any monkey tries to climb the stairs, the other
monkeys will try to prevent it.

Now, turn off 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 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. The previous newcomer takes part
in the punishment with enthusiasm. Again, replace a third original
monkey with a new one. The new one makes it to the stairs and is
attacked as well. Two of the four monkeys that beat 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 the fourth and fifth original monkeys, all the
monkeys which have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced.
Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?
Because that's the way it's always been around here. And that's how
company policy begins...