Book Review #12: "Who Moved My Cheese?" - written by Spencer Johnson, M.D.

Book review written by Aleksandr E Kheyson

This book is should definitely be on a list of ‘books to read’ for anyone who is in leadership role now, someone who manages teams, or anyone who is into personal development and leadership. If I had to summarize the book in few words, I would say that its main its main theme is the topic of change, being ready for change, the importance of change, and what happens if we resist change.

Some of the initial key points that I noted from the book were:

• “If you do not change, you can become extinct”
• “Sometimes things change and they are never the same again that’s life! Life moves on and so should we”

One of the main questions that book challenges everyone reading it to answer is:

• “What would you do if you weren’t afraid”
  

Why? Because fear of change is what stops us from taking action, from changing our present and accept new opportunities that may lead us to a better and more successful feature.

As it is noted in the book: “The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.” So, the sooner we let go of our past and present that is holding us back, the faster we will find new opportunities. Change happens all the time, the question is: Are we ready for the change? Are we willing to accept it? Are we prepared to change our present?

As noted in the book: “It is natural for change to continually occur, whether you expect it or not. Change could surprise you only if you didn’t expect it and weren’t looking for it.”

If we aren’t ready to accept change, we could never expect for things to change in our personal and professional lives. We must be ready and willing to accept change and take necessary actions to create change in order to move forward and become the agent of change.

‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ book also provides some examples of what happens when we resist change and how it impacts us and those around us.

It also talks about denial when it pertains to resisting change. Some of us tend to come up with many different reasons why we should not act, why we should stay where we are creating an illusion in our mind that things will get better over time, even when we do not take any action and change. As noted in the book “instead of changing jobs, maybe you should change the way you do your job,” which is  great example of where many of us make a mistake of waiting for things to improve in our jobs, without us actually changing what we do on the daily basis. Instead, we should ask ourselves, perhaps that issue is not with what is happening around us or in our company but with what is happening inside of us, is there an opportunity for us to change what we do or how we do it? As noted in the book “people want for things to stay the same and they think the change will be bad for them. When one person says the change is a bad idea, others say the same and they may not even feel that way at all, but they agree in order to fit in.”

In the book, author provides several questions that one can ask to see if it appropriate or necessary for him or her to take action.

Also, author explains different stages of change management especially when it pertains to teams or groups:

1. “Forming Stage,” 2) “Storming stage,” 3) “Norming stage,” 4) Performing stage,” 5) Adjourning stage”

Different stages noted above, which are explained in great detail in ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ book, help leaders to bring their team members along on a journey of change and to see what is in it for them as they work together towards a particular goal or objective.
By reading ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ I have also enjoyed learning about ‘Nine Team Roles’ that typically exist in any team and/or organization, and how different roles can work together as a team.

There are:

Action Oriented Roles:

• Shaper
• Implementer
• Completer

People Oriented Roles:

• Coordinator
• Team worker
• Resource Investigator

Thought Oriented Roles:

• Plant
• Monitor evaluator
• Specialist

In summary, I truly enjoyed reading ‘Who Moved My Cheese?’ by Dr. Spencer Johnson, and highly recommend this book to leaders, managers, and anyone who is interested in personal development and team leadership.

You can read more about the book and, if interested, purchase a hardcover copy or audiobook on Amazon by clicking here.