The simple story of Who Moved My Cheese

The simple story of Who Moved My Cheese? reveals the profound truths about change that give people and organizations a quick and easy way to succeed in changing times. Most people are fearful of change because they don’t believe they have any control over how or when it happens to them.

With the emergence of knowledge-based economy, most work environments are finally recognizing the urgent need to get their computers and other business systems up to speed and able to deal with unprecedented change. What businesses are only just beginning to realize is that this is not enough: We need to help people get ready, too.

In the story, four characters – who represent parts of ourselves – live in a “Maze” and look for "Cheese" to nourish them and make them happy. Two are mice named "Sniff" and "Scurry. " And two are little people, named “Hem” and “Haw, ” who are the size of mice but look and act like a lot like some people. "Cheese" is a metaphor for whatever you want to have in life – job, relationship, health, peace of mind. And the "Maze" is where you look for it.

• The mice, Sniff and Scurry, possessing only simple rodent brains, but good instincts, searched for the hard nibbling cheese they liked, as mice often do. They used the simple, but inefficient, trial-and-error method of finding cheese. They ran down one corridor and if it proved empty, they turned and ran down another. • The two little people, Hem and Haw, used their brains, filled with many beliefs, to search for a very different kind of Cheese-with a capital C-which they believed would make them feel happy and successful.

• The story shows what happens to the characters one day when the Cheese has been moved to another part of the maze. Some are prepared for it and do well. Others are surprised by it and have a difficult time. As you watch what they do, you may see a part of yours. When Haw is finally able to see what he is doing and laughs at himself, he moves on and finds "New Cheese" — while Hem remains hemmed in by his comfort and fears and is left behind.

• Company that wants to not only survive in the future but stay competitive, need to constantly change. While in the past, company may have wanted loyal employees, today they need flexible people who are not possessive about “the way things are done around here”.

• If you do not change, you can become extinct. • What would you do if you weren’t afraid ? • The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.

• Smell the Cheese often so you know when it is getting old. • Movement in a new direction helps you find new Cheese. • When you move beyond your fear, you feel free.

• Imagine myself enjoying new cheese, even before I find it, leads me to it. • The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese. • It is safer to search in the maze than remain in a cheeseless situation.

• Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese. • When you see that you can dine and enjoy new cheese you change course. • Noticing small changes early helps you adapt to the bigger changes that are to come. • Move with the cheese, and enjoy it !