30 / 52
People Are Like
Monkeys
By Leanne Cannon
What dreams do you have for the
future? Let’s face it: Many of us were
not encouraged to dream. The world
is filled with dream killers. Why? Some
people without dreams of their own
hate to see others pursuing theirs.
It makes them feel inadequate or
insecure. Still others believe they are
being helpful: keeping us from risk or
disappointment.
Business professors Gary Hamel
and C. K. Prahalad wrote about an
experiment conducted with a group
of monkeys. Four monkeys were
placed in a room that had a tall pole
in the center. At the top of that pole
hung a bunch of bananas.
One of the hungry monkeys started
climbing the pole to get something
to eat, but just as he reached out to
grab a banana, he was doused with
a flood of cold water. Squealing,
he scampered down the pole and
abandoned his attempt to feed
himself. Each monkey made a similar
attempt, and each one was drenched
with cold water. After making several
attempts, they finally gave up.
Then researchers removed one of the
monkeys from the room and replaced
him with a new monkey. As the new
monkey began to climb the pole, the
other three grabbed him and pulled
him down to the ground. After trying
to climb the pole several times and
being dragged down by the others, he
finally gave up and never attempted
to climb the pole again.
The researchers replaced the original
monkeys, one by one, with new ones,
and each time a new monkey was
brought in, he would be dragged
down by the others before he could
reach the bananas. In time, only
monkeys who had never received a
cold shower were in the room, but
none of them would climb the pole.
They also prevented one another
from climbing, but none of them
knew
why!
Perhaps others have dragged you
down in life. They’ve discouraged you
from dreaming. Maybe they resented
the fact that you wanted to move
up or to do something significant
with your life. Or maybe they were
SOAR TO SUCCESS
/
A
pril
2016
/
Personal Growth Strategies