I Moved Your Cheese - I was captivated by the title, I’ll admit it. As a promoter of Who Moved My Cheese (WMMC) – back in the day when you could not find copies in Goodwill – I have used it as suggested reading whenever I’m doing change management. However, I am generally the business consultant moving the cheese, and the book helps me get buy-in from the crowd. Is it possible that THIS book is actually MY book?
Well, 80 pages of size 14 font, much like its inspiration (only shorter), I can report that it is a book for the one in charge of change management. Sort of. It celebrates the cheese moving, for sure. Personally, I never recognized that the point of WMMC was to blindly accept change. I would call it closer to “embrace change”, and this book suggests that the theme of WMMC was instead something closer to accepting one’s fate (of change.)
Our protagonist, Max, is our every-mouse. He is the guy that wonders where the cheese comes from. He looks down and digs, he pounds on maze walls, and one day, he looks up! Max embarks on the journey of discovery, and eventually, affecting the change. Max is the mouse we all aspire to be in the real world. Curious. Interested. Engaged.
There are two other characters (besides the crowd of folks blindly accepting change as a necessity for continued cheese-finding.) Big, a mouse that likes running, not just eating cheese. And Zed, whom my housemate calls the Jesus-Mouse. He’s our philosopher that questions everything about the physical world. He has looked beyond “up.”
This book is a great book to use for a retreat and (again) change management. It celebrates the questioning attitude, not just the change. It is a great book to help employees accept the entry of a business consultant. It has discussion questions in the back – both for an individual and for a team. And, you’ll finish it in under an hour.
