
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
Ten office employees attend a conference. If each employee shakes hands exactly once with everyone else, except for their direct manager and someone they directly manage (assume each person manages exactly one other person and each has exactly one direct manager, and there is a closed managerial loop that includes all ten people), how many handshakes occur?

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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