This time I got a mail from Atul Dislay (a close friend from NIT Allahabad). He sent 4 books and recommended to read all. One of the book among them was "Who moved my cheese" by Spencer johnson co-author of The One Minute Manager ~ (Blanchard & Johnson, 1983)' and The One Minute Sales Person ~ (Johnson & Wilson, 1984)'. Just few days before this mail, I heard about this book from my cousin and a friend, that it's a great book. The book was published in 1998 and contains only 96 pages.
Who Moved My Cheese? is often distributed by managers to employees as a motivational tool, but the lessons it teaches can benefit literally anyone, young or old, rich or poor, looking for less stress and more success in every aspect of work and life. This book has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide and has been translated in 42 different languages. The story is very short that I completed it in the process of document verification in passport office Bhopal. But the lesson from the book is not comparable to the size of the book.
Lets first meet to the Characters of the Story...
Who moved my cheese? offers you four imaginary characters and they are:
1. Sniff
2. Scurry
3. Hem
4. Haw
Sniff and Scurry are mice whereas Hem and Haw are 2 persons who are as little as mice. All 4 of them keep moving around the maze looking for cheese to feed them. Eventually, they land up at a cheese station that is full of cheese. Looking at the large quantity of cheese, they feel content and think that it will last them a lifetime. In life’s way, suddenly all the cheese disappears from the station leaving all four of them stunned. However, in reality, the cheese had been decreasing gradually but they failed to foresee it.
The story tells you what you are going to gain when you adapt yourself to the situations around you rather than to suffer at one place. Cheese, in this book, stands as a metaphor for all the things that we pursue in life. It may be a job, relationship or anything that holds significance to us.The maze is where you look for what you want – the organisation you work in, or the family or community you live in. The disappearance of cheese, in the book, implies to change.
I can't write more about the book because the book itself is very small. Despite the fact that one can finish it in 1-2 hours, it has great amount of thoughts and learning.
According to the author the book will help someone to:
There is lot more story in the book that will make you think about what you are doing now and whether it is the time to change or not.
I will highly recommend this book to everyone. Read the book and enjoy it! It’s worth a read.
About the author:
Spencer Johnson is an M.D. who has become better known for fixing ailing corporations than healing the sick, first with his 1982 business classic The One Minute Manager (coauthored with psychiatrist Kenneth Blanchard) and then, unforgettably, with Who Moved My Cheese?, a word-of-mouth sensation that eventually remained on the New York Times bestseller list for over two years and has been translated into 42 languages.
Dr. Johnson's education includes a psychology degree from the University of Southern California, an M.D. from the Royal College of Surgeons and medical clerkships at Harvard Medical School and the Mayo Clinic.
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