WHO MOVED MY CHEESE
The Big Ideal
Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life – whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money, or spiritual peace of mind. Cheese is what we think will make us happy, and when circumstances take it away, different people deal with change in different ways. Four characters in this delightful parable represent parts of ourselves whenever we are confronted with change. Discover how you can let change work to your advantage and let it lead you to success!
SUMMARY
I just don't understand the hype behind this book. Supposedly, it is a valuable management tool in the vast American workforce. Many well known nationally recognized companies are buying up copies and handing them out to thousands of employees.
Why?
Oh, let me explain the "story" a bit and maybe somebody can point out the value of its scant 94-page message, at $20.00 a pop (hardback).
The book is essentially divided into three distinct parts. The first section, The Story Behind the Story is a foreword by Kenneth Blanchard, who co-wrote another book, The One Minute Manager with Dr. Johnson.
The second little part of the book is a supposed meeting between old friends who are in town for a school reunion. As they reflect on their lives and how much they have changed, one person begins to tell the cheesy story. Oh, excuse me! I mean The Story of the Cheese.
It seems there is this little maze. I'm guessing this maze is supposed to symbolize life. Anyway, in this maze are two mice with simple brains and simple needs. Also in this maze are two humans (known as littlepeople) with complex brains and more needs.
Each morning the mice and the littlepeople head out of the maze to look for "Cheese". According to ol' Doc Johnson (the author, Spencer Johnson, M.D.), "Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life-whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health, or spiritual peace of mind." (Book jacket)
All four beings find Cheese in the same place each day. Gradually, one of the mice senses change. The Cheese isn't the same. It is of lower quality and there is less. The littlepeople sense nothing. They just keep getting up each morning and expect to find the Cheese in the same place it always is. After all, they are entitled to this Cheese, aren't they?
Whelp, one day the Cheese is gone. The mice anticipated change, so they go out in the maze in search of new Cheese. The littlepeople don't know what to do. Their Cheese is gone! Somebody stole the Cheese! Instead of adapting to the change, the littlepeople just sit there and feel sorry for themselves. Meanwhile, the mice who adapted to the change are livin' large with their newly found Cheese.
Eventually, one of the littlepeople, named "Haw," ventures out into the maze in search of new Cheese, while the other, named "Hem," sits home in denial. Get it? Hem and Haw. Oh that Doc Johnson is so clever!
Must I finish the story? Oh, ok. Eventually, everyone in the maze reacts to the Cheese change one way or another. There are those who adapt quickly to the change, and those who only hurt themselves by living in denial and refusing to change. Do they all live happily ever after with a never-ending supply of Cheese? Do I care?
This concludes my semi-neutral review of Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, M.D. I tried to be as fair as I could about the subject matter. If you feel this book is exactly what you need in your life, then YAY! I have influenced a buying purchase. Go on your merry way.
For the rest of you, sit back and watch me rip through the biggest load of bull excrement I have even seen.
First of all, I am truly floored by the high-level whoozits that provided positive feedback for the introductory pages of this book. Did this waste of valuable trees really solve your workplace problems?
Secondly, I can't help but laugh my butt off about the symbolism here. High level managers want to give this book to their subordinates. They want them to relate to the mice in the book and quickly, happily adapt to change. Uh, hello? So you're basically saying "You're really all just rats in a maze. So why don't you read this book and quit whining when we change things around here. Thank you, the Management."
Personally, I think Cheese is an insulting metaphor for many of the life changes we face today.
We've decided to move our operations to
Honey, I've decided to leave you and our four children under the age of 6. Bye. Go find more Cheese.
Sorry I totaled your car ma'am. I wish I had insurance to pay for it. Guess you'll have to go find more Cheese, huh?
What really irks me is that this author thinks everything can be solved in a minute or less. How out of touch and arrogant can you be? It seems to me, Doc Johnson hasn't managed anybody or anything in a long time.
Also irritating is that this is marketed as a "self-help" book. Where's the help? The message I got was "Change or else." I certainly don't see any help in that statement. There are lots of problems in life. I can't think of many that can fit nicely into this "Cheese" story.
Here, I am going to save you some money. I'll tell you everything you need to know regarding this book and I won't charge you a dime.
Change happens. There's nothing you can do about it. Your best bet it to try and adapt to that change. You might be scared to try something new and that's ok, just do you best. If you don't roll with the changes, you'll only hurt yourself. You'll just live in denial and never see that the grass really is greener on the other side.
You see? Message given. Message received. And I didn't kill any trees or steal your $20 and shower you with my personal drivel.
Managers, there are better ways to open up communication lines with your employees. Folks who are facing moderate to major life changes: there are better books out there to help you deal with your hurdles.
If your employees are whining because you are moving their desks again, perhaps Who Moved My Cheese? could help you relay your message to those affected.
AUTHOR
Dr. Spencer Johnson is one of the world's most influential thinkers and beloved authors. He is renowned for his brief, profound parables that help millions of people manage in changing times and rejuvenate their spirits. The former physician's stories focus on discovering how to enjoy healthier success, with more meaning and less stress, at work and in life.
His ten international bestselling books include three #1 bestsellers: Who Moved My Cheese? An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change, the most widely read book on change; The One Minute Manager, the world's most popular management method for over two decades, co-authored with Ken Blanchard; and his newest, The Present. Over 40 million copies of Dr. Johnson's books are in print in 42 languages.
The Internet bookseller Amazon.com announced that it's #1 all-time bestselling book, during it's first ten years of history, is Spencer Johnson's WHO MOVED MY CHEESE?
Referred to as "The King of Parables" by USA Today, he is described as the best there is at taking complex subjects and presenting simple solutions that work. The universal principles and practical tools found in his books have also made them record-breaking bestsellers in many other countries.
Dr. Johnson's newest book, The Present, a #1 New York Times Business Best-seller, was the #1 book of the year in 2004 in South Korea with over 500,000 copies of the Korean editions in print.
The New York Times Book Review, in a 2005 article on Chinese publishing, reports that Spencer Johnson's book Who Moved My Cheese? has become
In
Dr. Johnson earned a B.A. degree in Psychology from the
He has served as Medical Director of Communications for Medtronic, the original innovators of cardiac pacemakers; Research Physician at the Institute for Inter-Disciplinary Studies, a medical-social think tank; Consultant to the Center for the Study of the Person, and to the School of Medicine, University of California; Leadership Fellow at the Harvard Business School and is an Advisor to Harvard's Center for Public Leadership.
Dr. Johnson is Chairman of Spencer Johnson Partners, a firm that puts his books to work, partnering with organizations to help them prosper from change.
CHARACTER
The characters in this story, as part of their jobs, have to negotiate a maze to find cheese and then, when the cheese supply becomes exhausted, face the choice of remaining in place or of changing the way they look at things in order to find more cheese. Two, Sniff and Scurry, move on and ultimately find a new supply of cheese. Two others, Hem and Haw, stick around, exhibiting a sense of denial. Ultimately giving in to hunger, Haw moves on, following his two adventurous friends, while Hem stays put, never to be heard from again. During his journey of self-discovery, Haw scribbles inspirational sayings on the wall, hopefully for Hem to follow, and eventually finds his friends and a new supply of cheese. As the story winds down, a mysterious noise is heard “offstage.”
At the end, they all, presumably, live happily ever after as a result of their adapting to change. In viewing the situation in modern academe, however, this concept of change is often equated to being “fashionable,” rather than having a productive purpose, and many, it seems, feel that in order to attract students, we must be fashionable. When we were growing up, the “happily ever after” ending was the ultimate goal; however, might there be a reason the Grimm boys and others never told us what “happily ever after” was really like? In the following story, I’ve explored one possible definition of happily ever after, set in a situation that may feel familiar to many. Our story begins shortly after the ending of Who Moved My Cheese?
***
“Well, that wasn’t so bad, after all, was it?” Scurry asked. He looked at Haw when he said it but his remarks seemed addressed to Sniff, as well. They sat in the room that was Cheese Station N, enjoying a nice camembert smeared over Ritz, washed down with cheap Cabernet from a cardboard box with a handy spigot Sniff had managed to locate and drag in. A week had passed since Haw had come straggling into Cheese Station N.
“What wasn’t?” Sniff asked.
“Change.”
“No. Because it’s what we do. We’re professionals. That’s why the organization values us, because we do what we have to do and we do it well. That involves being adaptable and flexible.”
STYLE
This famous parable written by Spencer Johnson involves characters and situations that people are commonly faces with in today's fast paced environment. The real magic of this book is not the story or what it meant to Dr Johnson when he wrote it, but how you interpret it and apply it to your own life. There is nothing in this book that is amazing or hard to understand, the concept is so easy that a kid could read it, but if you don't apply the message that you get from interpreting the moral of this story it won't help you a bit.
The entire parable is based on 4 characters, two mice and two little people who act similarly to humans, and their adventures through the maze. The maze is a representation of what is considered the "rat race" but even more specific it can be a representation for anything in your life where you constantly reach dead ends and are challenged in finding the path you want or can take to get you to where you need to be.
Inside the maze these characters live and thrive off of "cheese". They are all settled in and living the "good life" when one day their cheese disappears. Cheese is a representation of anything in your life really; opportunities, jobs, promotions, goals, and more. How the characters react individually to the missing cheese is so on target with how the different mentalities of humans would react that it is comical. Some of the characters sit around and wait, thinking the cheese will come back while others go in search of more cheese.
Don't be the one that sits around expecting things to never change and then refuse to adapt to the change when it happens. Go out, look for, and get a hold of your cheese.
I found out very fast that the reason I wasn't getting what I thought I deserved was not only that I wasn't going out and getting it, but my attitude and negative comments I made throughout the day turned people away from me. Because of this, no one wanted to give me cheese and I didn't do a very good job of getting it for myself.
For a long time I was very unhappy with my workplace. I felt like most people probably do; I was underpaid, overworked, and never rewarded or recognized for my accomplishments. I thought I deserved and did more than a lot of the other workers there. It took the reading if this book to help me realize that what I really did more of at my workplace than any other person was responsible for not getting recognition, rewards, and promotions.
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