WHO MOVED MY CHEESE?

Quote from the Book

“If you do not change, you can become extinct.” (p.46)

The Author

Spencer Johnson was born in Mitchell, South Dakota. He graduated from Notre Dame High SchoolofSherman Oaks, California, in 1957, received a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from the University of Southern California in 1963, and his medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Johnson currently lives in Hawaii and New Hampshire. Spencer Johnson is known for the Value Tales series of children’s books. Johnson is chairman of Spencer Johnson Partners. Johnson also wrote the book “Yes” or “No”: The Guide to Better Decisions (1992). He co-authored the One Minute Manager series of books with management writer Ken Blanchard. Johnson’s books have been translated into twenty-six languages.

Insights from the Book

Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life, published on September 8, 1998, is a motivational tale by Spencer Johnson written in the style of a parable or business fable. The text describes change in one’s work and life, and four typical reactions to those changes by two mice and two “little people,” during their hunt for cheese. A New York Times business bestseller upon release, Who Moved My Cheese? remained on the list for almost five years and spent over 200 weeks on Publishers Weekly‘s hardcover nonfiction list. It has sold more than 26 million copies worldwide in 37 languages and remains one of the best-selling business books. Allegorically, Who Moved My Cheese? features four characters: two mice, “Sniff” and “Scurry,” and two little people, miniature humans in essence, “Hem” and “Haw.” (The names of the little people are taken from the phrase “hem and haw,” a term for indecisiveness.) They live in a maze, a representation of one’s environment, and look for cheese, representative of happiness and success. Initially, without cheese, each group, the mice, and humans, paired off and traveled the lengthy corridors searching for cheese. One day both groups happen upon a cheese-filled corridor at “Cheese Station C.” Content with their find, the humans establish routines around their daily intake of cheese, slowly becoming arrogant in the process.

One day Sniff and Scurry arrive at Cheese Station C to find no cheese left, but they are not surprised. Noticing the cheese supply dwindling, they have mentally prepared beforehand for the arduous but inevitable task of finding more cheese. Leaving Cheese Station C behind, they begin their hunt for new cheese together. Later that day, Hem and Haw arrive at Cheese Station C only to find the same thing, no cheese. Angered and annoyed, Hem demands, “Who moved my cheese?” The humans have counted on the cheese supply to be constant, and so are unprepared for this eventuality. After deciding that the cheese is indeed gone they got angry at the unfairness of the situation and both go home starved. Returning the next day, Hem and Haw find the same cheese less place. Starting to realize the situation at hand, Haw thinks of a search for new cheese. But Hem is dead set in his victimized mindset and dismisses the proposal. Sometimes we abhor change; we wish it does not come. But change is constant. Life is full of changes and we must be ready for it. You are bound to make a discovery as you take an adventure into this book.