Because I can (and possibly because I am an engineer and like to play with numbers), I did a quick calculation to work out how full Frank’s inbox would get after the scenario above played its course.
After the fifth iteration (starting when Frank’s initial colleague on forwards the email), Frank has 32 emails in his inbox, and we’ve involved 63 of our (now very close) work colleagues in this discussion.
If the iterations continue overnight to our final cartoon cell,
- After 10 iterations, Frank has 512 emails
- After 15, he has has 8,192 emails
- After 20, he has a whopping 524,288 emails
Makes you think twice about hitting ‘Reply all’, eh?
Next time, pick up the phone instead.
Every now and then you need to take a step back and give yourself a pat on the back.
I’ve created a Brag Page to house my small cartooning triumphs and the first one is my entry into the annual St Just le Martel International Cartoon festival. Take a peak at the slide show.
And I was surprised to see that there were more similarities between the corporate ladder and monkey bars
The inventor, Sebastian Hinton, patented the first set of monkey bars in 1920. In his patent application (Ref: US1471465 A) he explained his inspiration and logic for creating this piece of equipment.
‘As exercise for children, climbing has in it conspicuous-features of advantage. It is an exercise wherein all the muscles of the whole body are used. Climbing is the natural method of locomotion which the evolutionary predecessors of the human race were designed to practice, and is therefore almost ideally suited for children…
Again and importantly, the monkey instinct strong in all human beings and perhaps more clearly displayed in children, makes climbing a sport to which children by a psychology about the same as that of a kitten at play with a ball, which of course is practice for hunting.’
And now for a bit of fun, let’s change the word ‘children; with ‘businessman’ and tweak a few choice words
‘As exercise for ambitious businessmen, climbing the corporate ladder has in it conspicuous-features of advantage. It is an exercise wherein all the muscles of the whole body are used. Climbing is the natural method of locomotion which the evolutionary predecessors of the human race were designed to practice, and is therefore almost ideally suited for the want-to-be CEO…
Again and importantly, the monkey instinct strong in all human beings and perhaps more clearly displayed in businessmen, makes climbing the corporate ladder a sport to which businessmen by a psychology about the same as that of a kitten at play with a ball, which of course is practice for hunting.’
It’s that time again for our fabulous Friday freebie.
You know thew drill. Click here to grab it now.