Who Moved My Cheese?

This is, on the surface, a pleasant parable of change management, which can be applied in all walks of life. From kids to teens, from relationships to careers.

It suffers, however, from one small, niggling character flaw:

It’s as condescending as buggery.


Overcome the Wishful Thinking Stall   May 28, 2004
Donald Mitchell (Boston)
21 out of 26 found this review helpful

While the world changes ever more rapidly and with wider volatility, many people continue to wish (in vain) for constancy. People will probably never lose their desire for predictability, but acting as though no change is happening can be very harmful.

While we can all relate to this problem intellectually, Who Moved My Cheese? brings to bear the all-to-human emotions that keep us from taking timely, appropriate actions. As you read this book, you will experience those emotions and recognize their power. This will help you the next time you experience these emotions, because you will realize what you are doing. By making you consciously aware of your wishful thinking, you should be better able to overcome it.

I hope that Dr. Johnson goes on to write sequels to this book that deal with all of the major stalls that people are subject to: Disbelief, Miscommunications, Procrastination, Avoiding Ugliness, Defensiveness, Tradition, Misconception, Bureaucracy, Directionlessness, Helplessness, Xenophobia, Over-Optimism, Covering-Up, and Taking on Excess Volatility.

If you read this book from a literal perspective, you will probably not get too much benefit. Try to imagine yourself as each of the characters. It'll work better that way.

By the way, you should know that this book was rewritten after each of the early printings to reflect feedback from readers. I was fortunate to have a chance to discuss my suggested changes with Dr. Johnson, and was pleased to see that these are now included in the newer books. So if you haven't read the book since it first came out, look at the latest version. You'll probably like it better! Obviously, Dr. Johnson isn't subject to the complacency stall himself.

Enjoy!


The Second Mouse Gets the Cheese   May 7, 2004
Captain Cook (Leeward to the Sandwich Islands)
13 out of 17 found this review helpful

As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, "The only constant is change." The worlds of business, politics, and culture continually bear out this unsettling truth. Many of us have become creatures of habit and, for better or worse, refuse to go with the flow. Instead of attempting to ride the changing winds of fortune, we prefer to dig our heels in and stay where we are. These are the problems of attitude addressed in this easy-to-read book by Spencer Johnson, a medical doctor and the co-author of the best-selling business classic "The One Minute Manager."

Johnson specializes in helping people discover simple truths that can help them to enjoy more success with less stress. Among his many published works, he has also penned a number of popular children's books. This perhaps explains the simplicity of style in "Who Moved My Cheese," which some readers may find insulting.

This work is best described as a kind of parable that takes place in a maze and features four characters, two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two mouse-sized people, Hem and Haw. The outlines of the story are reflected in the names of the characters: Sniff and Scurry suggest their uncomplicated, go-getting attitude to cheese, while Hem and Haw are synonyms of acting indecisively.

The adventures of the mice and mini-humans in this Aesop-like fable deliver the message that change is something positive, although this is far from proven. While cheese is equally important to all four, the two mice, by having less intellectual baggage, are more adept at adapting to the change represented by the moving of the cheese. Hem and Haw, by comparison, find change more difficult to manage, as it involves changing their self-image and belief systems.

Many will see this as a subtle poke at CEOs and politicians who prefer to stick to old formulas instead of embracing the challenges of the future, while others will see it as a patronizingly simplistic endorsement of profit driven change. Let's face it, Sniff and Scurry are more likely to end up in a mousetrap. While it's the early bird that gets the worm, don't forget it's the second mouse that gets the cheese.


Worth its weight in gold   March 18, 2004
5 out of 7 found this review helpful

This book is about how people should face change. The usual attitude found in most of us when confronted with change, is first to deny that change is about to happen, followed by resistance to modifying our attitude and behaviour once the change has happened. Yet in most cases this is not the best course of action; clinging to the past deprives one of all the potential possibilities, improvements and benefits that change usually brings along with it.

The book states that change is inevitable. Hence, it encourages the reader not to be averse to change, by being prepared to let go of old habits and accept change as a challenge which, when properly taken, brings about self-improvement and a superior post-change situation.

To achieve its end, the book tells a very well written parable that is both very readable and very enjoyable. The parable is about how two mice and two littlepeople face change; suddenly the easy comfortable life the four of them enjoy comes abruptly to an end; the mice being animals accept the change immediately and do something about it, whereas the littlepeople being humans, take their emotions and their logic into consideration first, with the result that they are slow to adapt to change.

The reader can identify himself with one of the four characters, thus, being able to weigh the pros and cons of his attitude towards change vis-a-vis the character. The book is only 96 pages and so can be taken in one go if one so wishes. Besides, it has the major conclusions depicted as posters on some left-hand-side pages, thus, further aiding assimilation of the message it tries to convey.

All in all, an excellent book, that is extremely useful in every day life situations. It is so relevant to real life that it must be taught at school. Very highly recommended.


Brilliant Book, but   January 28, 2004
Chaddy Owl (Oldham United Kingdom)
9 out of 12 found this review helpful

This book is excellent and I recommend that everyone should read it at some stage, but I can see why some people don't like it. If you're over run by problems and a stressfull life then your trying to fix it with the wrong book. If this is your case then I'd suggest getting something like Norman Vincent Peale's, Power Of Positve Thinking (A must read) and a few of Glenn Harrold's brilliant hypnosis meditation CD's. Who Moved my Cheese provides guidance to people's minds that are almost already fixed, so read Who Moved My Cheese after you've read the Power Of Positive Thinking and it will be most helpfull and you'll love it!