Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life [Hardcover]

Spencer Johnson (Author), Kenneth Blanchard (Foreword)

Book Description

Release date: September 8, 1998

With Who Moved My Cheese? Dr. Spencer Johnson realizes the need for finding the language and tools to deal with change--an issue that makes all of us nervous and uncomfortable.

Most people are fearful of change because they don't believe they have any control over how or when it happens to them. Since change happens either to the individual or by the individual, Spencer Johnson shows us that what matters most is the attitude we have about change.

When the Y2K panic gripped the corporate realm before the new millenium, most work environments finally recognized the urgent need to get their computers and other business systems up to speed and able to deal with unprecedented change. And businesses realized that this was not enough: they needed to help people get ready, too.

Spencer Johnson has created his new book to do just that. The coauthor of the multimillion bestseller The One Minute Manager has written a deceptively simple story with a dramatically important message that can radically alter the way we cope with change. Who Moved My Cheese? allows for common themes to become topics for discussion and individual interpretation.

Who Moved My Cheese? takes the fear and anxiety out of managing the future and shows people a simple way to successfully deal with the changing times, providing them with a method for moving ahead with their work and lives safely and effectively.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Change can be a blessing or a curse, depending on your perspective. The message of Who Moved My Cheese? is that all can come to see it as a blessing, if they understand the nature of cheese and the role it plays in their lives. Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable that takes place in a maze. Four beings live in that maze: Sniff and Scurry are mice--nonanalytical and nonjudgmental, they just want cheese and are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Hem and Haw are "littlepeople," mouse-size humans who have an entirely different relationship with cheese. It's not just sustenance to them; it's their self-image. Their lives and belief systems are built around the cheese they've found. Most of us reading the story will see the cheese as something related to our livelihoods--our jobs, our career paths, the industries we work in--although it can stand for anything, from health to relationships. The point of the story is that we have to be alert to changes in the cheese, and be prepared to go running off in search of new sources of cheese when the cheese we have runs out.

Dr. Johnson, coauthor of The One Minute Manager and many other books, presents this parable to business, church groups, schools, military organizations--anyplace where you find people who may fear or resist change. And although more analytical and skeptical readers may find the tale a little too simplistic, its beauty is that it sums up all natural history in just 94 pages: Things change. They always have changed and always will change. And while there's no single way to deal with change, the consequence of pretending change won't happen is always the same: The cheese runs out. --Lou Schuler

From Library Journal

This is a brief tale of two mice and two humans who live in a maze and one day are faced with change: someone moves their cheese. Reactions vary from quick adjustment to waiting for the situation to change by itself to suit their needs. This story is about adjusting attitudes toward change in life, especially at work. Change occurs whether a person is ready or not, but the author affirms that it can be positive. His principles are to anticipate change, let go of the old, and do what you would do if you were not afraid. Listeners are still left with questions about making his or her own specific personal changes. Capably narrated by Tony Roberts, this audiotape is recommended for larger public library collections.AMark Guyer, Stark Cty. Dist. Lib., Canton, OH
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: G. P. Putnam's Sons; 1 edition (September 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399144463
• ISBN-13: 978-0399144462
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.7 x 8.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,950 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #363 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #2 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Human Resources & Personnel Management
  • #3 in Books > Self-Help > Stress Management
  • #6 in Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior > Workplace

More About the Author

Spencer Johnson, M.D., is one of the world's most respected thinkers and beloved authors. Dr. Johnson earned a B.A. degree in Psychology from the University of Southern California, an M.D. degree from the Royal College of Surgeons, and medical clerkships at The Mayo Clinic and Harvard Medical School. More than forty-six million copies of Spencer Johnson's books are in print worldwide in more than forty-seven languages.

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#34 in Books > Business & Investing

#59 in Books > Self-Help

#34 in Books > Business & Investing

#59 in Books > Self-Help

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

159 of 181 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A piece of cheese January 21, 2004

By Bernardo

Format:Hardcover

Contrary to what many negative reviews said about it, this book does not compare us to mice, but to dwarfs; after all, the hero of the parable is Haw, a dwarf that learned to "adapt and enjoy the change".

Hem and Haw are two dwarfs looking for cheese in a maze, and eventually they find a place that seems to replenish itself with cheese from one day to the next. Haw starts agreeing with his pal Hem, who is confortable where he is, and both do not understand when the cheese disappears and get frustrated and a little confused. Then Haw asks himself how could he be any worse if he just went looking for another piece of cheese through the labyrinth again. Little by little he starts convincing himself that to invite change, to not be afraid of change, to visualize your goal (the new chunk of cheese), and to be fueled not by fear but by hope of achieving what you want is the best thing one can do. Hem stays behind, moaning and moping, complaining of the unfairness of the situation, that he deserved the cheese, that he won't like any new brand of cheese that Haw may find - that is, if he finds it at all. Of course Haw finds a new place with not one, but many types of cheese, but by now he has learned not to trust permanence, and actually enjoy change. He even tries to convince Hem to give up the expectation that the old cheese will reappear, and to come along with him to this new section of the maze that has all this cheese, but alas, Hem does not change, and stays where he is.

What the book does not state, in any part of it, is that changes may be a bad thing.

Any normal human being knows that. Sometimes even when we adapt, and try our best to accept that things change, we still get failures. And sometimes things should not be adapted, because that will make the situation worse than it is. Sometimes is best to stay put, sometimes is best to see that things are changing, and adapt intelligently. Should that be obvious? Apparently there is a whole book about change that states from beginning to end that change is a good thing, period, and that book sells I don't know how many millions.

I dont know why I'm writing this review, since there's already 1131 reviews posted, and I doubt if this is going to be of further help. Also I've never written any reviews, but this book was so bad that I felt impelled to say something. If you've read so far it means you know how to read a text longer than two sentences. It should permit you to skim this 92 pages of poorly written prose, few-words-per-sentence sentences, all-around easy to read and easy to understand piece of s... without much trouble, but then again, if you want to avoid the trouble, read paragraph two for a synopsis and go browsing for better books.

326 of 380 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Inappropriate and Pointless August 27, 2003

By GrigLars

Format:Hardcover

I found this book to be yet another one of those books churned out by the machines of middle management, and handed down to the employee. Most of these books BECOME best sellers because they are sold in bulk to corporations for pennies on the dollar. Notice how this book has "companion" pieces of merchandise, like games, a web site, and training seminars? They are selling a complete product line to ineffective management, and look at the book as more of a large business card/advertisement.

This becomes evident when you read the stories and parables that surprise me that it took two authors to write only 96 pages. The writing is haphazard, poorly edited, unhelpful, sends mixed signals, and boils down to a rather insensitive "Things change, get used to it, change or you will die. Now keep moving." I would never give this to an employee, because that would be like giving an employee a stick of deodorant and wondering why they've stopped talking to you. This book does not care about the reader, and if I got it, I'd think, "Is my boss telling me to move on?" Comparing people to mice, and life's goals to cheese is patronizing to anyone with a sense of self-awareness. The motivational parables are generic, and seem out of place to the rest of the scare tactic this book is.

There are better motivational books out there that are written by experienced people who have good ideas that are helpful, not doom-obsessed. This book is more of a poke in the back with a sharp stick than a carrot on the end of s string, or a light at the end of the tunnel. In fact, this book might as well say, "You better not go to the light at the end of the tunnel, it could go away at any moment, and then where will you be?" Like another reviewer here said, "[the book] offers no answer other than you've got to go out and find more 'cheese" for yourself.'" Anyone who has reached the age of adulthood, and doesn't realize that change is inevitable will certainly never get the message from this book. And those that do know will only think this book is redundant and almost encouraging bitterness. I don't know what the point of this book really is, except as some sort of gloomy pap.

This book is already mostly used up, and will never be remembered like Zig Ziglar or Thomas Harris. Scout around, and find some older books, by successful people (like people who have actually succeeded in life that you have heard of), that have been around for a while. People still buy them for a reason.

403 of 475 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Lemmings, hurtling over the cliff's edge August 30, 2000

By S. Walton

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is the WORST business book I have ever read. The intent behind it is valid, but the content can be summed up in a few statements:

Change will happen

If you don't change, you will die (figuratively or literally)

Watch for signs of change, so you can be prepared to change, too

Change is good, and can lead to something better

There. Do you feel like paying me [good money] for that priceless knowledge?

This is a parable, which means they dressed up the real content by writing a goofy story about mice and little people, taking up more pages so they could justify the cost. Unfortunately, they could only drag the story out so far (how many times can you read, "and he kept walking and looking for more cheese"). The book was still only about 20 pages long, too short for a hardcover, so they added a second story to frame the parable itself. The second story is about a group at a reunion that talks about the book. Even THAT doesn't add enough pages to justify printing it in hardcover, so they increased the print size to roughly what you see in books for 3 year olds.

The author, publisher and whoever else was involved in this moneymaking scheme obviously recognized that many people would see through their efforts. Their solution? Put in a statement saying, in effect, "If you think this book isn't worthwhile, then you aren't a talented, cutting edge business person like all the other who read the book are."

Believe me, someone in your office (probably your boss) is waving this book around, exclaiming how wonderful it is and telling you to read it. ASK IF YOU CAN BORROW HIS COPY. Do not spend money on it yourself. You're going to have to read it, unfortunately, because the herd has spoken and you can't stray from the herd. I'll bet the person who started the rumor that this was a good book is getting royalties. It's the only explanation.

The one saving grace about this book is it's a quick read. I finished it in 23 minutes. At least you can soon move on to something more worthwhile.