We used to tell this story in the Air Force about monkeys in a room climbing a ladder to grab bananas and then getting sprayed with a hose. It explains how culture impacts behavior for years after certain things are put into place.
(For what it's worth, I always thought it was a made up story, but as it turns out, it's a real study by a guy named Gordon Stephenson back in the 1960s.)
Here's the experiment:
There were a handful of monkeys in a room, with a ladder in the center leading up to a bunch of bananas. Any time a monkey started to climb the ladder, all the monkeys in the room were sprayed with water. After a few attempts, no more monkeys tried to climb the ladder again.
This is where the story gets interesting.
They removed half the "original" monkeys and replaced them with new fresh "naive" monkeys. As soon as the naive monkeys went to climb the ladder, the original monkeys jumped on them and stopped them before they got sprayed with water. Every time, they'd jump on them.
More interesting.
Finally, they removed the last of the original monkeys and replaced them with more fresh naive monkeys. Again, when the new batch of monkeys went for the ladder, the others would jump on them and stop them from climbing the ladder.
Throughout every iteration of removing the older group and introducing new monkeys, this same thing kept happening, over and over.
And the most interesting part.
After all of the original monkeys were removed, none of the naive monkeys actually knew why they weren't supposed to climb the ladder. They had no idea there was a hose or that they would get sprayed. They did it because they learned "that's just the way we do things around here." (Heard that before?)
Disclaimer: In Stephenson's actual experiments in '67, there are a few technical differences from the story I was told. Mainly, it wasn't water, but blasts of air. Big deal, the point remains the same: they were avoiding being punished from performing an action.
Making Decisions In Your Startup
I liken this example to industry experts (usually software developers or digital marketers) telling you what you can and can't do in your startup. They stop you from building something and we put all our trust into them and oblige. The best way to recognize this is happening, is when you hear the words, "best practices."
It's actually #3 in the Deadly Diseases in Marketing. "Deference: Letting builders design your products."
What's really happening is, they're avoiding trouble, staying on the "path of least resistance", just like the monkeys avoiding the water. (Or really, they're avoiding 'the unknown' because they never saw the water before, and have no idea the water even exists, maybe it doesn't exist!)
If you're meeting resistance from your team, probably one of two reasons:
1. They're trying to avoid a "Yak Shaving" nightmare (google Yak Shaving), and actually save you tons of time and money.
2. They're choosing the path of least resistance and building something else easier/simpler/more familiar.
The Challenge for Founders
You are the naive new monkey who just walked into a room full of cynical naysayers, and it's your job to determine what's the truth, what you can actually accomplish, and what's nonsense.
But honestly, the real question is, are you willing to get a little wet in the process?
In conclusion.
Take advice you get from experts with a grain of salt, especially when you're completely out of your league. Slow them down, have them explain what's going on, and have a healthy and productive debate. The quicker they get flustered, the quicker you get your answer.
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