What Capuchin monkeys know that engineering leaders don't
summary
Claim: perceived fairness drives contribution and retention, illustrated by Brosnan and de Waal’s capuchin experiment where the cucumber recipient refuses reward after seeing a grape for a peer. Tools actually used: a targeted hiring question, recurring one‑on‑ones with brag document tracking, and intentional change theory annual growth questions. Concrete surprise: a single pull request into the Pineapple Fund site correlates with a $1,000,000 grant to a tiny nonprofit. Practical result: reframe or reassign tasks to convert cucumbers into grapes and reduce churn.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Intro
- 0:30Pineapple Fund Story
- 3:02Equity Theory
- 5:00Engineering Management
- 6:04Engineers are not monkeys
- 8:03Oneonones
- 8:49Intentional Change Theory
- 9:37Create New Opportunities
- 10:11Work That Isnt Very Exciting
- 10:40Conclusion
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