Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life

List Price: $19.95 Amazon.com Price: $13.97

• Media: Hardcover
• Publisher: Putnam Pub Group (Paper) (September, 1998)
• ISBN: 0399144463
• Average Customer Review: Based on 1060 reviews.
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: 88
  

This audiobook was given to me, along with a number of other coping-with-trying-times resources, by one of my many middle managers in the midst of a merger. With an open mind I gave it a shot. What did I have to loose, except my job?

This book is an over-simplistic metaphor for unexpected change that is beyond one's control, in which "cheese" is a symbol of something you want, ie: happiness, security, financial resources. The message the authors attempt to convey is that your future, success, security, and ultimately happiness is within your control. While this may be PARTLY true, the tone of the childlike story is so condescending (an unintended byproduct of the tale's simplification, I suspect), one could easily get the feeling it was penned by the committee representing CEOs Happily Unopposed to Bad Behavior (CHUBB).

The book amplifies feelings of rejection and betrayal by the faceless "Cheese Removers". It raises many questions like, "What if I was counting on that cheese for future use", but offers no answer other than you've got to go out and find more "cheese" for yourself, even though everything you had was just taken from you for no apparent reason. To me (and many others) this was not an inspiring read. It was painful.

This book was destined to be a best seller because, no doubt, it can be ordered by the box-load by those anticipating removing others' cheese. Sure, the message is a fine one, it's the delivery that flat-out stinks.


Act Upon-Don't Resist Change.

That's right, if change didn't happen the world we live in would be lifeless. This quick, easy to read little story is wonderful. I appreciate the author's presentation of how to deal with change in this pleasantly simple story-telling format. It made it easy to look at how I deal with change.

What came to mind when I read the section on fear was my current situation of needing to find a new tenant for a vacant apartment I have. At first I wanted the current tenant to remain in our apartment-but realized that she needed to move on. I am now moving with confidence in the direction of finding a new tenant.

If you enjoyed this book, I highly recommend another book called "Working On Yourself Doesn't Work" written by Ariel & Shya Kane. The Kanes' book is a guide for personal transformation, where the discovery of life's magic is a daily habit.


Is this Real Cheese or What?

As an educator, I was assigned this "cheesy" book to read for "professional growth." Just having "changed" schools, by force, I would say, "Okay, you moved my cheese, but do I have to eat it, too?" While the story frame intrigued my at first, the whole gimmick (and that's what the marketing strategy is) of Hem and Haw versus Sniff and Scurry is even too much for my 6th grade students to swallow. The puns are cute, the message is old, and who doesn't hear from the water cooler that change is best.

In the education business, change is all the rage. Every 5 -7 years there is a cycle of change, especially in the humanities. As an Language Arts teacher, strategies that were once thought to be "out-of-this-world" are now seen as ordinary. The writing industry has shown us that there is an audience for just about anyone's ideas, no matter how trite, obvious and just plain "dah" they seem to be. The question is does Corporate America want to buy into this "cheese" business as well as the education field or is Spencer Johnson the next messiah or should I say "Hem" savior?

Move on over cheese and give me a break.

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