Thou shall abandon policies they now so blindly follow...

Leading zeros would prevent the #ICICI management from accepting a wire transfer was not something easy to comprehend, but we all know how policies can be and how one may follow a policy.

I had done a wire transfer on June 16, 2021, for $6500 and it is still not cleared by the beneficiary's #ICICI Bank in India. A wire transfer is typically completed in a day, but it has taken over eight weeks. It is still not done as the ICICI Bank Manager kept rejecting it. The most recent issue was that the account number mentioned in the wire transfer document had five leading zeros and the "Know your customer" document listed the account number without the five leading zeros.  

000001 and 1 are not equal.

The leading zeroes matter. And, the ICICI bank rejected it (I don't want to mention every issue with ICICI Bank as this post is not about complaining about ICICI and since then I have moved on with #HDFC and that transaction is closed and we are now trying to get refund back from ICICI). Sometimes we follow policies blindly. It is a phenomenon that limits our businesses, limits our personal growth, limits our ability to satisfy our customers, and more, but it happens. You don't have to be an #ICICIBank manager to be a stickler.

There is a famous monkey experiment that I had learnt many years ago, and I would share it with you as this might help you.

The experiment goes a little something like this:

A set of scientists puts five monkeys in a room. There is a bunch of bananas hanging from a string on the ceiling. There is also a ladder leading to the bananas. There are also sprinklers on the ceiling connected by a hose to hot oil. The sprinklers are OFF unless turned ON. When the first #monkey goes for the bananas, the scientists spray all five monkeys with hot oil from the sprinklers in the ceiling for five minutes. The monkeys don't like it. Sometime later, another monkey tries to go for the bananas, and the scientists once again spray all five monkeys with the hot oil for five minutes. When a third monkey tries to go for the bananas, the other four attack him to prevent him from climbing that ladder. They are afraid of the hot oil that may come. This goes on for a bit.  

And, now you have monkeys in the room, bananas hanging from the ceiling, and yet no monkey trying to reach for the bananas.

Then, the scientists remove the hose and turn off the sprinklers permanently. The hot oil can never come out of them. The scientists replace one of the monkeys with a new monkey who wasn't part of the original experiment and was never sprayed with hot oil. And, as soon as the new monkey touches the ladder to go for the bananas, the other four monkeys attack him to keep him from doing so. When he tries again, they attack him again. Thus, the new monkey learns not to go after the bananas because he'll get attacked if he does.

The scientists then replace one more monkey with another new monkey. When this new monkey touches the ladder to go for the bananas, the other four attack him. Even the new monkey that had entered earlier attacks although he was never sprayed with the hot oil. The scientists continue to replace all the monkeys one at a time, until all the five original monkeys are removed from the room. Each time a newcomer enters the room and goes for the bananas, the monkeys in the room attack. The monkeys, who have never been sprayed with hot oil, learn not to go after the temptation of the bananas and don't let anyone go for the bananas.

A policy has been formed.

If the monkeys could tell, they'd tell you "because that's the policy". No one has experienced the hot oil, nor the hot oil can ever come, but they are all following a policy.  

The policy is not everything. It is ok to understand the situation and change. Be flexible. Be open to change. Even I am open to change my mind to work with ICICI in future and will not say #NeverICICI. Leading ZEROS may have mattered in policy but in reality they don't matter!