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

by Spencer Johnson

English language

Published April 28, 1998

ISBN:: 978-0-399-14446-2

(63 reviews)

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 seminal 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. As of 2018, it has sold almost 30 million copies worldwide in 37 languages and remains one of the best-selling business books.

3 editions

ssweeny reviewed Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Silly and obvious but there are some good nuggets in there.

3 stars

I can see why this book has the reputation it does. It's very simple and beats you over the head with its main points. If my boss gave me this to read before a giant restructure I'd probably launch it at his head.

That said, some of the bits about overthinking changes and fretting so much over how a change might negatively affect you did resonate with me, and I recognized myself in there, so maybe thinking of this silly tale will help with that.

The whole thing is around 100 pages. Get it from the library, take an hour to read it, try to get from it what you can.

Oh, skip the final "discussion" session. It's short, but it feels like a really bad after-school special about business.

Jacob Campbell reviewed Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Can We Get Out of the Rat Race: Reading the Classic Who Moved My Cheese?

3 stars

Content warning Summary of learning offered in the book.

This book is a short read. I will say, in general, I appreciated the story and the analogy... but not really. It is likely worth a read or a listen (as that is what I did). I was recommended to read it when I was working on my BASW or my MSW (back in 2008 or 2009), but it wasn't something I ever got around to. It was brought back to mind when I was recently at a training and a quote was taken from it and shared. Years ago, I added it to my list of books I want to read (ordered by the date that I added them) and surrounded by:

Andreas, S., & Faulkner, C. (1996) The NLP Comprehensive Training Team: The New Technology of Achievement.

and

Carlo, Philip (2007) The Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer

I'm not sure if either of those are books I have any intention of coming back and and reading, but I did pick this one up using Libby. One benefit of the audiobook is the version I listened to included a talk that Spencer gave that I think I appreciated more than the book.

I think the thing that I disliked about the book was some of the setup storytelling around the analogy that was told. There was a lot of discussion about how good the book was, how much it helped people, and that the allegory was really good. So much self-congratulatory talk is hard for me to really listen to. Also, the telling and re-telling of the parts and making sure that the ideas were clear was a little bit too much, but it is a short book, so it gets through it quickly.

I think the summary that is provided of what the little man in the maze writes when he finds his new cheese is the basic ideas given by the book:

Change Happens They Keep Moving The Cheese Anticipate Change Get Ready For The Cheese To Move Monitor Change Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old Adapt To Change Quickly The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese Change Move With The Cheese Enjoy Change! Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese! Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again They Keep Moving The Cheese.

When I was listening, I found myself thinking about systems. Maybe, instead of just looking to learn how to follow the cheese, it is about dismantling the maze and finding a way out of the rat race we find ourselves in.

Bevan reviewed Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

An easy read that could be overlooked for its simplicity

5 stars

Content warning Content warning Some personal correlations to the story.

It is a simple story followed by an equally important discussion. The simplicity of it makes it easy to overlook in our day-to-day lives. Depending on who you are today—sniff, scurry, haw, or hem—it's possible to get different meanings.

I had been in a situation where my cheese had been moved. I hemmed and puffed for a long time. Feeling entitled, betrayed, and sorry for myself. Reflecting now, what helped me overcome was similar to the realization haw came to. I think the book gave us simple words for change that can help us understand it and do better. Moreover, it facilitates the smooth flow of discussions.

dsctm3 reviewed Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

A short, but rich worthwhile cautionary tale for all.

5 stars

A good life lesson regarding adapting to change and letting go of a a complacent, comfortable situation in hopes of avoiding change. The story reads like a children's book, but the book explores the story and gives several real life examples of applying the lesson to all stages of life.

arensb reviewed Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Review of 'Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life' on 'Storygraph'

1 star

This is not a book that anyone buys to read for themselves. This is a book that managers buy for employees they don't have any respect for.

The core of the story is a parable with four characters inside a maze: two mice, and two mouse-sized humans. They have a chunk of cheese, which symbolizes the things they want out of life. When the cheese is eaten, there is much wailing and gnashing of teeth, and various characters do or don't do things about it. One of the characters writes on the walls the things we're supposed to learn from all this, like the fact that change happens, and it can be uncomfortable, but sitting around bitching about it won't help.

The whole thing is bracketed by a bit of motivational-speaker fan-fiction, in which a couple of Mary Sues discuss the parable with some imaginary characters and collectively hammer home …

surya reviewed Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Review of 'Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Though this book is supposedly a management book, it resonated with me on a personal level.

The important takeaway from this for me is resilience.
How quickly we sense changes and take appropriate actions.

I and my friend were talking about it.
We felt that we take time to move on.
We try our best and only when we are 200% sure that despite trying our best, things are not working out we move on.
Giving 200% takes time.
But the advantage is that, since we have truly done our best, finally when we do move on, we move on with no regret.

This book emphasizes that we must be smart and quick in sensing the changes and moving on. I guess finding a nice balance between moving on and trying our best would be a nice way to go forward.

AliCorbin reviewed Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Review of 'Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

A fable for adults. Purportedly about how to deal with change, and with a gushing introduction that told how it helped people. "It saved my job!" "It saved my marriage!" "It saved my life!" But I found it boring and simplistic. The lessons that I heard in the text were:

Change is good.
Learning is fun. (Well, duh!)
Motivational posters are useful. (As jokes?)
Keep your head up, and run at the first hint of trouble. In other words, quit before they get around to firing you.
Don't overthink. In fact, don't think at all. The best and quickest success comes from action without thought.

I don't think the author thought this through very well. In fact, I kept being reminded of Animal Farm, and almost wondered if the whole thing was actually a parody.

The book kept harping on overcoming your fear of change. And maybe some people do …

tomek reviewed Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Review of 'Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

Słaba. Opowieść o myszach, oczywiście można ją odczytywać na kilku płaszczyznach. Prosta jak budowa cepa - myszy mają jakieś tam przygody w labiryncie, zdobywają nowe doświadczenia i na koniec rozdziału widzimy tabliczkę ze złotą radą.
Mego życia nie zmieniła mimo trafnych, choć wcale odkrywczych rad.
A wydanie naprawdę ładne - twarda okładka, piękny papier.

Didactylos reviewed Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson

Review of 'Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life' on 'Goodreads'

4 stars

Been meaning to read this for years. Have to say much of it was not new to me, perhaps that says something about my own journey, and my own learning. Nicely and easily digested.