Synopsis: Who Moved My Cheese? Is a simple parable that reveals profound truths about change. It is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a "Maze" and look for "Cheese" to nourish them and make them happy.
Two are mice named Sniff and Scurry. And two are "Littlepeople" -- beings the size of mice who look and act a lot like people. Their names are Hem and Haw.
"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.
And "The Maze" is where you look for what you want -- the organization you work in, or the family or community you live in. The characters are faced with unexpected change.
In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with it successfully, and writes what he has learned from his experience on the maze walls.
When you come to see "The Handwriting on the Wall," you can discover for yourself how to deal with change, so that you can enjoy less stress and more success (however you define it) in your work and in your life.
Written for all ages, the story takes a less than an hour to read, but its unique insights can last a lifetime.
Verdict: Okay, so it's a textbook. But I read it, so I'm posting it. Actually, this one was very good. As pretty much explained in the synopsis, Who Moved My Cheese? is about adapting to change. We control how we react to change and this is the story of 8 characters (4 actual, 4 fictitious) and how they learn to adapt to change. I was actually able to relate to a lot about what this was about. Change is constant in our work, both professionally and personally. This book reminds us that we must take the time to laugh at ourselves and choose how we want to adapt. We can move forward or we can stand still. The ones who move forward are the ones who will succeed; the ones who stand still will find themselves either following the pack, or languishing.
I found this book to be Very Good. I enjoyed it. It was a simple read, told in a "storybook" kind of way that was both entertaining and enlightening.
Life is too short to read a bad book.
Thursday, September 11, 2008,9:20 PM
Who Moved My Cheese by Spencer Johnson, M.D.
posted by Dev 
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8 Comments:
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At 11:53 PM,
Kristie (J) -
At 9:17 PM,
Kristie (J)LOL - how could they make a movie out of a 100 page book???
I've told my supervisor where I work now about this book - since we are going through a real heavy duty change including two physical moves in the building, caseload changes personnel changes - you name it we do it. I really should get this one for her to read too. -
At 9:11 AM,
Jennifer B.
The branch manager of a company I worked for a few jobs back bought a number of copies of this book and had everyone in the office read it.
While a simple tale - in a different sense, it really had an effect on me. Change is ongoing and it's up to us how we handle it. I thought this a very good allegory.