Moved My Cheese? Blake Who

¶ … Moved My Cheese? Blake Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson is a self-help book aimed at helping people view change in a new way. The essential message of the book is that change is unavoidable and that it is necessary to expect change, prepare for it, and adapt to it when it happens. The message of the book is delivered via a parable about four characters in a maze.

The four characters in the maze all look for cheese. The mice are named Sniff and Scurry. They are simple creatures and just search for the cheese to eat. They do not attach any great meaning to the cheese. The other two characters are "littlepeople" named Hem and Haw. They also search for the cheese, but they attach more meaning to it than the mice. Hem and Haw have emotions and beliefs and they believe the cheese will make them feel happy and successful.

All four characters find the cheese and travel there each day to eat the cheese. The message about change is delivered through the way the two sets of characters respond when things change and the cheese is no longer there. The first major difference in the two sets of characters is what the cheese means to them. For the mice, the cheese is only important because they want to eat it. They do not attach any greater meaning to it.

Hem and Haw show what the cheese means to them by writing on the wall: "Having Cheese Makes You Happy." This shows that to them, the cheese is more than just something to eat. They believe it is the thing that provides them with happiness. This begins to explain why change impacts the four characters so differently. Johnson also notes that the cheese represents whatever people think they need to be happy, whether it be material things, good health, or spiritual well-being.

The change occurs when the cheese suddenly isn't there. Sniff and Scurry react well. They had been observing that the cheese had been getting smaller and so are not surprised by the change. They do not have any kind of emotional reaction, but are only focused on the practical. Their response is to leave the area and search for more cheese. It is also noted that the mice have a different routine than Hem and Haw.

Each day when they arrived at the cheese, they checked the area to see if anything had changed. In contrast, Hem and Haw took it for granted that the cheese would always be there. Sniff and Scurry were also always prepared to move on. This is represented by the way they always wore their running shoes tied conveniently around their necks. In contrast, Hem and Haw assumed that the cheese would always be there and were not prepared for things to change.

The message of the parable is to be prepared for change. Johnson is saying that like Sniff and Scurry, people should accept change, be ready for it, and be ready to take action and adapt when it happens. At the same time, he is showing the dangers of getting comfortable and assuming that things will always stay the same. Hem and Haw's reaction to change is completely different to Sniff and Scurry's. They aren't focused on the practical needs of finding more cheese. Instead, they react emotionally.

They complain that it's not fair and become depressed. They spend a lot of time looking around and hoping that the cheese will return. They even return to the same spot the next day to see if the cheese has returned. These reactions by Hem and Haw show how being attached emotionally complicates the situation. It also shows how ineffective this response to the situation is. It must be noted that Sniff and Scurry have already left and discovered more cheese.

This is Johnson's way of showing how trying to fight or deny change is ineffective. Once change happens, there is no point hoping that things will return to normal. Instead, you have to respond to the changes and adapt to the new situation. This message is delivered as Hem and Haw continually have their cheese moved, eventually learning to expect change and adapt when it happens.

Overall then, Johnson's basic advice to people is to prepare for change so it doesn't surprise you, to expect change so you don't react to it by feeling like you have been wronged, and to face changes by taking positive action. Johnson shows that with this attitude to change, it can actually be a positive thing. This is a fairly simple message and isn't a new approach to coping with change. The effectiveness of the book isn't that it unveils a new technique.

Instead, it is that the parable allows people to see a different view of how they respond to change. Using creatures in a maze simplifies the process and probably makes it more simple than it really is. The value in this is that it allows for an overall view of what people value and why they act the way they do. It lacks the detail, but the simple metaphor.