It happened that there were three monkeys in a cage. Suspended at the top if the cage was a bunch of bananas. There was a ladder from the floor of the cage up to the bananas. One of the monkeys who was both clever and agile and also liked bananas, decided to head up the ladder to grab a banana.
Imagine his surprise (not to mention that of the other two monkeys) when suddenly a fire hose washed down the cage, blasting all three monkeys over to one side. Cold and shivering, the 3 monkeys regrouped and thought about what had happened.
Monkeys don't have a real long memory, and after awhile a second monkey thought again about the bananas and headed up the ladder. Same thing -- a fire hose washed all three monkeys over to the side of the cage. They picked themselves up, shook themselves off, and hoped the sun would come out to warm them up.
After another couple of hours, the third monkey couldn't resist, and he went for it. Sure enough, same result -- fire hose, wet monkeys, and another miserable afternoon of drying out.
Finally, all three monkeys became convinced that going for the bananas was a bad idea, and went on with the rest of their lives.
Then the zookeeper drafted one of the monkeys for another exhibit and replaced him with a new monkey. The new monkey arrived, looked up at the bananas, looked over at the ladder and couldn't figure out why the other monkeys hadn't gone for the bananas. He headed for the ladder and got about 1 rung up when the remaining "experienced" monkeys tackled him, dragged him to the floor and pummeled him into submission. He quickly concluded that climbing the ladder wasn't a good idea.
A week later, the zookeeper replaced the second monkey. Monkeys are somewhat single-minded. The new monkey spied the bananas, headed for the ladder, and the remaining two monkeys tackled him and pummeled him into submission.
Finally the third monkey was replaced and, you guessed it, the same thing happened. So life went on among the monkeys and after some time the first of the "new" monkeys was replaced with yet another monkey. Sure enough, the new guy saw the bananas, went for the ladder, and his two peers tackled him and beat him into submission.
Why was that? None of these monkeys knew anything about the fire hose. None of them had ever gotten wet for having climbed the ladder in the quest for bananas. Yet the monkeys had been fully culturalized to know that it was a bad idea. And you could likely go on individually replacing monkeys one at a time forever, and expect the same result.
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How many of you have run into a situation/person who's reasoning is always "because that's how it's always been done". Nobody knows why it's done that way and nobody has though to question it or change it before and they're so against change that they try to get you to leave it alone by saying "because that's how it's always been done"...having no idea how much better it could be or how jacked up the current processes are!
A company's rules and policies are all hand-me-downs. Old employees train new employees in the ways of the company, as they know it...as they've always known it, as they've always done things because "that's the way it's always been done". Never mind the major advances in technology over the last few decades...lol. And heaven forbid you, as a new employee, try to question the rules, regulations, methods, etc. And rarely will a new employee challenge the older employees for fear of being outcasted. Should that new employee take the jump, ask the questions, make the changes...their head goes on chopping block. Been there, done that, didn't care! lol
I'm not going to apologize for being inquisitive. I'm the type of person who wants to know everything about everything. Josh's boss has this saying "inch wide, mile deep"...about knowing everything about one thing...having ONE specialty. Josh says he's more of a "mile wide, inch deep", he wants to know enough about everything to get the job done. I'm a "mile wide, mile deep" kind of person. I can't just be shown my puzzle piece and only do that. You can't tell me to type the alphabet over and over again without telling me why. Sure, probably some managers worst nightmare. lol But I want to know why that job is so crucial to the whole puzzle. Not only that, I want to know how my piece fits in to the puzzle and what all the other pieces do to help me better understand it all. I can't just turn my gear without knowing what all the other gears do. That doesn't mean I want to operate all the gears or be all the puzzle pieces...I just want to know how and why it all works the way it does.
I'm also one who always tries to make things better, faster, more efficient, etc. One of the MAIN reasons I left the Star for the Leader was for the challenge. I'd seen the system (or lack of). I'd been asked to update it, modernize it, make it better, bring it up to modern times...and boy did I (to the dismay of many!). I LOVE the challenge of creating processes and policies from the ground up! I would have loved a more willing and capable staff but you can't always get what you want! lol
I absolutely LOVE accounting and my ideal job would be to do what I did at the Leader - go in, clean up, and be gone. Like a temporary contractor who goes in, evaluates a company, their employees, the positions, the systems, the processes, etc...makes suggestions on where it could be enhanced, implement the changes, make sure everyone can stand on their own two feet then move on to the next project. That would be WONDERFUL! But, it's not practical...and I have a family to support! lol
This is why I've opted for Human Resource Management. Dealing with the people, the policies, the procedures, the rules and regulations, hiring, training, firing, legal issues, ethical issues, benefits, etc. Even though HR was only a fraction of my previous jobs (and honestly, it was way low on the totem pole of priorites!), I loved that part almost as much as the accounting aspect.
My only fear is not being challenged. It will be the same stuff, different day. No fun excel workbooks with schnazy formulas. No conference calls about financial's. No picking apart financial statements. No budgets. No accounting... :(
I honestly still don't know what I want to be when I "grow up". I want a career and I know I don't want to work for another small business. But I don't know if I'm cut out for "corporate" life...all the games and politics. Pretty much the same petty junk as a small business just on a larger scale. lol
ugh!
Ok, back to my book! I'm trying to finish this class up by the end of the year!
:)
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