The CEO offered an employee a bonus of $10k or to double it and pass it on to the next employee.



The first employee elected to double and pass it on. The CEO thought what a generous individual this was and then moved on to the next employee.

The next employee also declined the (now) $20k bonus and elected to double and pass it on. “Wow” the CEO thought – even 20k is being passed on! What a sense of camaraderie in this team.


The next employee also chose to double and pass on….This continued for 6 more employees and the bonus offer now stood at over $2.5m. In a panic, the CEO had to call his wealthy father to get a loan, otherwise his business will be bankrupted.

Meanwhile the nine employees were in the kitchen deciding how to split the $2.5m evenly.