Introduction: The monkey story
The experiment involved ve monkeys, a cage, a banana, a
ladder and, crucially, a water hose.
The ve monkeys were locked in a cage, after which a banana
was hung from the ceiling with, fortunately for the monkeys (or
so it seemed . . .), a ladder placed right underneath it. Of course,
immediately, one of the monkeys raced towards the ladder,
intending to climb it and grab the banana. However, as soon as
he started to climb, the sadist (euphemistically called “scientist”)
sprayed the monkey with ice-cold water. In addition, however, he
also sprayed the other four monkeys . . .
When a second monkey was about to climb the ladder, the
sadist would again spray the monkey with ice-cold water, and
apply the same treatment to its four fellow inmates; likewise
for the third climber and, if they were particularly persistent
(or dumb), the fourth one. Then they would have learned their
lesson: they were not going to climb the ladder again, banana
or no banana.
In order to gain further pleasure or, I guess, prolong the exper-
iment, the sadist (scientist) outside the cage would then replace
one of the monkeys with a new one. As can be expected, the
new guy would spot the banana, think, “Why don’t these idiots
go get it?!” and start climbing the ladder. Then, however, it got
interesting: the other four monkeys, familiar with the cold-water
treatment, would run towards the new guy – and beat him up.
The new guy, blissfully unaware of the cold-water history, would
get the message: no climbing up the ladder in this cage – banana
or no banana.
Introduction: The monkey storyxvi
When the beast outside the cage replaced a second monkey with
a new one, the events would repeat themselves – monkey runs
towards the ladder, other monkeys beat him up, new monkey
does not attempt to climb again – with one notable detail:
the rst new monkey, who had never received the cold-water
treatment himself (and didn’t even know anything about it),
would, with equal vigor and enthusiasm, join in the beating of
the new guy on the block.
When the researcher replaced a third monkey, the same thing
happened; likewise for the fourth until, eventually, all the
monkeys had been replaced and none of the ones in the cage had
any experience or knowledge of the cold-water treatment.
Then, a new monkey was introduced into the cage. It ran toward
the ladder, only to get beaten up by the others. Yet, this monkey
turned around and asked, “Why do you beat me up when I try
to get the banana?” The other four monkeys stopped, looked at
each other slightly puzzled and, nally, shrugged their shoulders:
“Don’t know. But that’s the way we do things around here.”
This book
My friend and colleague at the London Business School, the
illustrious Costas Markides, used to tell the executives in his
classroom this story. It reminded him – and me – of quite a few
of the organizations we have seen over the years. That’s because
the world of business is full of habits (and I guess full of monkeys
. . .): habits we take for granted and never question.
Yet, some of them are actually quite strange, and some of them
simply don’t work. Has it ever occurred to you that there is quite
a gap between how companies make and pretend to make big
strategic decisions? Doesn’t it sometimes strike you as strange
that our boards of directors are really a bunch of part-timers and
amateurs? Do you really think the “Chinese walls” in investment
banks are as impermeable as they say they are when they make
stock recommendations to us for the same rms that are their
clients? Don’t you think it might be a tiny teeny little bit odd
xviiIntroduction: The monkey story
that often no less than 80 percent of a CEO’s remuneration
consists of stock options which we know from research greatly
enhance risk-taking behavior, while at the same time we seem
to yearn for CEOs who are a bit more risk-conscious? And, while
we’re at it, why do so many of them seem to be plain narcissistic
egomaniacs?
I don’t know about you, but I have also wondered why new
bandwagons of management fads (such as “Six Sigma” or
“Empowerment” or “Managing by Objectives”) continue to roll
across the corporate landscape. Why do herds of consultants
seem to eagerly use downsizing for all corporate ailments in the
same way that medieval quacks employed bleeding as a cure for
all possible diseases? And why do we persistently see surges of
acquisitions in most industries while research conclusively shows
they lose money? I could go on and on and, frankly, I will. But
my point is that there really are quite a few things in the world of
business that we take for granted, that we seldom consider or talk
about, but that I think are worth stripping down and exposing
for what they are, so that we can ask ourselves whether they
really are a sane “way of doing things round here”.
Hence, in this book, I will reveal what really goes on inside
business, explore what CEOs really are like, and dissect the
temptations, the inuences, and the (sometimes ill-advised)
liaisons and strategies of corporate life.
Yet, don’t be mistaken; although I think I have succeeded
in keeping it relatively light and, above all, fast-paced, this
entire book is nevertheless explicitly based on rigorous research
and veriable facts. Because that’s what I am; a scientist who
examines managers just like a criminologist studies criminals,
and a zoologist might study mountain gorillas (or monkeys in
cages). I analyze their behavior and reveal what really goes on
in their world; who makes it, who doesn’t, and why things work
the way they do.
This also means that this is not a business book. You may have
found it in the business book section of Waterstones or WH
Smith but, I am sorry, it really is not a business book. It is a book
Introduction: The monkey storyxviii
about business. And this is not just some semantic gimmickry.
Business books tell you what to do (if you want to make it
big in business). They are the “how-to” books for people who
wear pin-striped suits and ties, which tell you that the author
(invariably labeled “management guru”) thinks – pardon, knows
– you should do X, after which he or she proceeds with another
124 pages of examples of companies or people that made it big
precisely by doing X. I am not going to tell you X. I am not going
to tell you what to do. I am going to tell you how things work, in
the strange business of business.
Yet, I do think that, if you want to make it big (and there is no
reason to be ashamed of that!), you’d better understand how
things work, in the kingdom that you are trying to rule. Because
don’t be mistaken, the things that I will reveal to you concern
the fundamental nature of business today. They cut through
conventional perceptions of how business works to show you
what really goes on, and how that affects rm performance.
They explain how success today can mean failure tomorrow;
who becomes a corporate hero and who becomes a villain; and
how money gets made – and lost. As such, I hope my analysis
will build your understanding of today’s corporate world from
the ground up.
So, if you’re in business yourself, polish up your business savvy
with my little exposé. If you’re a curious observer, I hope you
will be entertained (and sometimes slightly appalled . . .) by the
hidden facts and realities revealed.
Freek Vermeulen
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