The 5 Monkeys Experiment

I read this story nearly 15 years back in the book Competing for the future by Gary Hamel and C. K. Prahalad. I used to tell it during motivational sessions for school kids in India. The story goes like this:

A group of scientists placed 5 monkeys in a cage and in the middle, a ladder with bananas on the top. Every time a monkey went up the ladder, the scientists soaked the rest of the monkeys with cold water. After a while, every time a monkey went up the ladder, the others beat up the one on the ladder.

After some time, no monkey dares to go up the ladder regardless of the temptation. Scientists then decided to substitute one of the monkeys. The 1st thing this new monkey did was go up the ladder. Immediately the other monkeys beat him up. After several beatings, the new member learned not to climb the ladder even though he never knew why.

A 2nd monkey was substituted and the same occurred. The 1st monkey participated in the beating of the 2nd monkey. A 3rd monkey was changed and the same was repeated (beating). The 4th was substituted and the beating was repeated and finally, the 5th monkey was replaced.

What was left was a group of 5 monkeys that even though never received a cold shower, continued to beat up any monkey who attempted to climb the ladder.

If it was possible to ask the monkeys why they would beat up all those who attempted to go up the ladder ... I bet you the answer would be ... "I don't know — that's how things are done around here" Does it sound familiar? Next time someone tells you “that’s not how we do things”, ask them why.

Here is a detailed analysis of the story in Harvard Business Review https://lnkd.in/eHZ_W8nx