Business Book Reviews – for the Busy Business Owner
Who Moved My Cheese? An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson, M.D. G.P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1998
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The first time I saw a copy of the international bestseller, Who Moved My Cheese? An A-Mazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, it was sitting in a box with other similar business titles destined for a charity thrift shop, or a yard sale. The guy who’d been commanded to read the book wasn’t sure if he could sell it, now that he’d lost his job and would be spending more of his time experiencing change than reading about it. 
Since 1998, Spencer Johnson’s 94-page text has sold more than 24 million copies, and while there’s no way of knowing how many people have read the book, passed it on; re-sold it on Amazon or in garage sales; re-gifted or donated it, we can assume the parable’s popularity exists for a reason. Frankly, I was always convinced most copies were purchased in bulk by inspired CEOs and other decision makers and then assigned to the troops. And then I read it.
Who Moved My Cheese? is a parable of four characters who live in a maze and live off what appears to be an endless supply of cheese. Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry, and two are tiny people named Hem and Haw.
The story is, of course, an allegory, which, if you remember your last English Lit class, is an extended metaphor in which objects, persons, and actions are symbolic of easily recognizable aspects of the culture. In general, the underlying meaning of each symbol has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas, such as charity, greed, or envy. The purpose of a parable is to teach a lesson, and in this respect is quite different from a short story, poem or drama.
In Johnson’s parable (or allegory,) “cheese” is a metaphor for our desires: job, relationship, comfort, money, or security, whatever makes us happy. The “maze” is our environment, where we look for and find cheese: the organization we work in, or the family or community where we live.
In this story, all four characters are faced with sudden change; the cheese they’ve been living on for many comfortable years has disappeared. They’ve actually been eating it, but have felt so secure in its existence that they haven’t noticed and so haven’t anticipated or planned for its disappearance.
The mice, Sniff and Scurry, live up to their names and are the first to leave their little zone in search of new cheese. Hem and Haw, equally well named, take their time. Hem is nervous and hesitant but eventually scares up the courage, via the discovery of his sense of humor, to get out and find some new cheese. In doing so, he learns quite a bit about himself, his courage, his sense of adventure and his mistakes. He’s a compassionate person, eager to share his finding with Haw, who remains back in the old room (the past) waiting for the old cheese to return.
Of all the lessons Hem learns, probably the most important is the realization that we must each learn to handle change on our own. He tries to convince Haw of the cheeses to be found in other parts of the maze but to no avail. Haw’s not moving. He’s rigid with fear and a sense of injustice. His mantra, “It’s not fair!” is familiar.
By this point, anyone reading the tale is likely to be asking, “Who am I?” Am I the frightened one who will not move on? Am I the one who discovers a renewed sense of adventure and gets on with it? Am I a combination of both? Am I one of the mice, able to sense which way the wind is blowing and/or ready to bolt into action? This moment is, of course, the heart of a parable.
On the plot level, one of the humans does deal with change successfully. Because he also learns that his buddy must learn how to change on his own, he writes what he has learned from his experience on the maze walls. In time, Haw will be forced to leave his empty room (office, work station, dead relationship) and walk the maze. He will find “the writing on the wall” left by Hem. Remember, parables and allegories are not supposed to be subtle. If it was, we’d all get lost in the details.
I discovered that we learn when are ready for the lesson. This explains the enthusiasm of executives and managers to push the book onto others. Their excitement in recognizing themselves as one of the characters, or in simplifying their desires as a piece of cheese they cannot control would naturally lead them to share, if not their own insights, then the source of them.
It also explains its omnipresence at yard sales and second-hand bookstores. Ironic because I have learned from the parable. People do learn from parables but not until they are ready. Like the sermon that seems meant for your ears, a parable is the story you “get” when you’re ready for it.
As of this writing, Who Moved My Cheese? is also available on Amazon in Kindle edition with audio/video, and Audible Audio.
For more information about Who Moved My Cheese? and Spencer Johnson see, http://www.whomovedmycheese.com/SpencerJohnson.html
Based on this review, would you read this book?
The author of this review was provided the book by Capital Access Network, Inc. The views expressed represent those of the author and do not reflect those of Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries. Any opinions and/or advice expressed by the author do not imply endorsement by Capital Access Network, Inc. nor its subsidiaries.
