Start with a cage containing five apes In the cage hang a banana on a string and put stairs under it Before long an ape will go to the stairs and start to climb towards the banana As soon as he touches the stairs spray all of the apes with cold water After a while another ape makes an attempt with the same result - all the apes are sprayed with cold water This continues through several more attempts Pretty soon when another ape tries to climb the stairs the other apes all try to prevent it Now turn off the cold water Remove one ape from the cage and replace it with a new one The new ape sees the banana and wants to climb the stairs To his horror all of the other apes 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 apes 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 ape with a new one The new one makes it to the stairs and is attacked as well Two of the four apes 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 ape After replacing the fourth and fifth original apes all the apes which have been sprayed with cold water have been replaced Nevertheless no ape ever again approaches the stairs Why not? Because that s the way they ve always done it and that s the way it s always been around here And that s how company policy begins

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