Who Moved My Cheese Pdf Book Free Download
Keena Wiegert
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 bestselling work and motivational business fable by Spencer Johnson. The text describes the way one reacts to major change in one's work and life, and four typical reactions to those changes by two mice and two "Littlepeople," 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.[1] As of 2018, it has sold almost 30 million copies worldwide[2][3] in 37 languages and remains one of the best-selling business books.[4] This book guides the reader to anticipate change, adapt to change quickly, enjoy change and be ready to change quickly, again and again.
Allegorically, Who Moved My Cheese? features four characters - two mice, "Sniff" and "Scurry," and two Littlepeople, human metaphor, "Hem" and "Haw". The Littlepeople's names derive from the phrase "hem and haw," a term for indecisiveness. They live in a maze, a representation of one's environment, and they look for cheese, representative of happiness and success. Initially without cheese, the mice and humans pair off and explore the lengthy corridors searching for cheese. One day both groups discover 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. They are not surprised; having previously observed the cheese supply dwindling, they have mentally prepared for the arduous but inevitable task of finding more cheese. Leaving "Cheese Station C" behind, they hunt for new cheese together. Hem and Haw then discover no cheese at Cheese Station C. Angered and annoyed, Hem demands, "Who moved my cheese?" The humans are unprepared for this situation, having previously assumed the cheese supply to be constant. After acknowledging the cheese is indeed gone they get angry at the unfairness of the situation. Haw suggests a search for new cheese, but Hem is dead-set in his disappointment and dismisses the proposal.
Meanwhile, Sniff and Scurry find "Cheese Station N", with new cheese. Back at Cheese Station C, Hem and Haw blame each other for their problem. Hoping to change, Haw again proposes a search for new cheese, but Hem is comforted by his old routine and is frightened about the unknown, so he knocks the idea again. One day, having discovered his debilitating fears, Haw begins to chuckle at the situation and stops taking himself so seriously. Realizing he should simply move on, Haw enters the maze, after chiseling "If You Do Not Change, You Can Become Extinct" on the wall of Cheese Station C for Hem to ponder.
Still fearful of his trek, Haw jots "What Would You Do If You Weren't Afraid?" on the wall and, after thinking about that, he begins his venture. Still plagued with worry (perhaps he has waited too long to begin his search...), Haw finds some bits of cheese that nourish him and he is able to continue his search. Haw realizes that the cheese has not suddenly vanished, but has dwindled from continual eating. After a stop at an empty cheese station, Haw begins worrying about the unknown again. Brushing aside his fears, Haw's new mindset allows him to again enjoy life. He has even begun to smile again! He is realizing that "When you move beyond your fear, you feel free." After another empty cheese station, Haw decides to go back to Hem with the few bits of new cheese he has managed to find.
Uncompromising, Hem refuses the new cheese, to his friend's disappointment. With knowledge learned along the way, Haw heads back into the maze. Getting deeper into the maze, inspired by bits of new cheese here and there, Haw leaves a trail of writings on the wall ("The Handwriting On the Wall"). These writings clarify his own thinking and give him hope that his friend will find aid in them during his search for new cheese. Still traveling, Haw one day comes across Cheese Station N, abundant with cheese, including some varieties that are strange to him, and he realizes he has found what he was looking for. After eating, Haw reflects on his experience. He ponders a return to see his old friend, but he decides to let Hem find his own way. Finding the largest wall in Cheese Station N, he writes:
Cautious from past experience, Haw now inspects Cheese Station N daily and explores different parts of the maze regularly to prevent complacency. Hearing movement in the maze one day, Haw realizes someone is approaching the station, and he hopes it is his friend Hem who has found the way.[5]
In 1999, Who Moved My Cheese Inc was founded to handle the Who Moved My Cheese? book order demands from businesses. In 2005, the company was reorganized as Spencer Johnson Partners with the idea of bringing in partners and additional content from Dr. Spencer Johnson, the author. Spencer Johnson Partners focused on creating additional programs and services that would continue to help clients navigate change, including Gaining Change Skills. Then, in 2009, the company was purchased and renamed Red Tree leadership.
In the corporate environment, management has been known to distribute this book to employees during times of "structural reorganization", or during cost-cutting measures, in an attempt to portray unfavorable or unfair changes in an optimistic or opportunistic way. This has been characterized by Barbara Ehrenreich in her book Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America as an attempt by organizational management to make employees quickly and unconditionally assimilate management ideals, even if they may prove detrimental to them professionally. Ehrenreich called the book "the classic of downsizing propaganda" and summarizes its message as "the dangerous human tendencies to 'overanalyze' and complain must be overcome for a more rodentlike approach to life. When you lose a job, just shut up and scamper along to the next one."[6]
Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams said that patronizing parables are one of the top things he receives complaints about by email.[7] Adams' retort to the message in the parable is that it is a "patronizing message for the proletariat to acquiesce".[8]
Harvard Business School Professor Deepak Malhotra thinks not, and he has crafted an allegory with a decidedly un-mousy message. I Moved Your Cheese: For Those Who Refuse to Live as Mice in Someone Else's Maze is like Who Moved My Cheese? in that the new business fable also stars a cast of mice. But the similarity ends there.
Deepak Malhotra: If a manager has thought carefully about the message of WMMC and still wishes to distribute it to his or her employees, I am certainly not going to attempt to interfere with that decision. Every book has useful insights.
But in some ways, the message of WMMC may indeed be dangerous, or at least debilitating, because it promotes the idea that change is inevitably beyond our control, that we shouldn't waste our time wondering why things are the way they are, and that we should just put our heads down and keep running around the maze chasing after cheese.
Q: Your book seems to be about the possibility of questioning and then effecting change rather than simply accepting it. But for those who don't see themselves as change agents, do you think there's a middle ground between blindly accepting change and actively effecting it?
A: What is often holding us back from achieving greater success is not real limitations, but that we have internalized environmental pressures, social norms, and the expectations of other people. The world tells us how things have to be, and we don't push back enough.
A: In the back of the book, there are notes and discussion questions for educators as well as for managers and executives. I do plan to use the book in the classroom. I think it is a great tool for discussing issues that are covered in a wide range of courses, including leadership, entrepreneurship, power and politics, strategy, and organizational behavior. The value to those who lead or work in corporate organizations may be even more obvious. I have taught and worked with over 10,000 business owners, executives, and managers in the last decade, and in my experience, even smart, hard-working, and well-intentioned people struggle with solving the more vexing problems that business pursuits throw at us. The book is designed not only to inspire individuals who work in organizations to think and do things differently, but also to motivate structured discussions regarding how a team, division, or organization might challenge long-standing assumptions, see the old in new ways, and chart a new path for success.
A: That they are easy to read and enjoyable has to be part of the answer. It is also the case that every reader has different needs, and that a fable allows each individual reader to take from the book a message that is uniquely tailored to that person. But there may be another reason. In the field of business, there is rarely an insight or idea that is entirely new. And yet, many great ideas that have been around for a long time have still not been transformed into action by those who lead or work in organizations. What this speaks to is the difference between making a good idea available to an audience, and articulating it in a way that inspires the audience to run with it. A good business fable may do a better job inspiring us to act.
When a book has sold over twenty million copies, due respect for the opinion of its readers creates an obligation to explain why someone would seek to challenge its central message. I hope to do that, briefly, in these opening pages. The real answer, however, lies in the fable itself.
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