Hey my fellow SW friends, ever get tired of hearing coworkers say the infamous line, "That's the way it's always been around here" whenever you try to make positive changes at work?

This is something pretty cool that I heard recently and wanted to share it with you. It's about an experiment...

The experiment started with a cage containing five apes. In the cage, a banana hung on a string with stairs under it. Before long, an ape went to the stairs and started to climb towards the banana. As soon as he touched the stairs, all the apes were sprayed with cold water. After a while, another ape made an attempt with the same result-all the apes were sprayed with water. Then the water was turned off.

Later, another ape tried to climb the stairs but the other apes prevented him from doing so even though no water was sprayed.

Next, one ape was removed from the cage and replaced with a new one. The new ape, upon seeing the banana, tries to climb the stairs. To his horror, all of the other apes attack him. After another attempt and attack, he learns that if he tries to climb the stairs, he will be assaulted.

Then, another of the original five apes was removed from the cage and replaced with a new one. The newcomer goes to the stairs and is attacked. The previous newcomer takes part in the punishment with enthusiasm.

Then, a third original ape was replaced with a new one and upon approaching the stairs 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 the cold water have been replaced. Nevertheless, no ape ever again approaches the stairs. Why not?

"Because that's the way it's always been around here." Sound familiar?