Rating: Summary: Read it TWICE Review: Most people think they *like* change because they can't eat the same thing everyday for lunch or get tired of the same clothes. The fact is, none of us likes to change something we like, or a situation we have got accustomed to. Why is it so hard to wake up an hour early? Not because we're not getting enough sleep. But because we're afraid of CHANGE. Why is it hard to work out instead of watch TV, despite the obvious health benefits? Because CHANGE makes us uncomfortable. Why is it hard to accept a promotion that involves moving to a different town or country? Why we do tend to accept Presidents who are wholly incompetent? Because we are afraid of change. By accepting change, and by knowing the difference between FEAR and CAUTION we can change the results we're getting out of our lives and careers. WHY DID THE AUTHOR MAKE THE BOOK SO EASY...EVEN SIMPLISTIC? To make change easy to accept and internalize, that's why. If you don't like the price share a friend's copy or borrow it from a library. But read it...TWICE!
Rating: Summary: A Maze of Confusion Review: A very simple approach to change management. This short read as a reminder to everyone who is employed of the effects of the chaos created by the ups and downs of business.Many employees and employers are confused by the rapid changes and fluctuations of business. This story offers an entertaining view of how people fall into different categories of dealing with situations that they cannot control. The book may open the eyes of those who deny the effects of change. But, it doesn't show much consideration to the economic factors that often contribute to employee/employer decisions. The confusion certainly comes through in the characters who seem to be frantically scrambling throughout the 90-some pages. I would have liked more information about how to cultivate the strengths and avoid the traps of each of the four personality: Hem, Haw, Sniff and Scurry. If you are interested in a lighthearted look at the challenges of growth for businesses and employees, then Who Moved My Cheese is a popular choice. Check out Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life a book of 52 simple, actionable steps to deal with the changes described in Who Moved My Cheese?
Rating: Summary: book's theme:"?Having Trouble Dealing With Change?" Review: 2/12/03 The book is a very quick & mostly funny read....the better part of the three part book:I.Intro;II.Saga of mice(Sniff & Scurry) &the littlepeople Haw and Hem; and III.discussion by those who interpreted the actions of each and how it reflected in themselves and others to whom they were related to in one way or another) were the Intro and the Saga (and the ***Illustrations(graphics)***..Haw's little graphics of slices of cheese and words that make you say Hmmm..(the handwritings on the wall on various pages)e.g.(Pg 58-Haw 's enthusiastic "Imagine myself enjoying new cheese even before I find it leads me to it".As far as the conclusions drawn by the Discussion Group(part III) many would differ with their conclusions..maybe the piles of cheeses mentioned in the book should have included more "Sharp Cheese".
Rating: Summary: great tiny book Review: I read this book twice and I also bought 3 more copies for 3 other friends. That's how much I like this book. I agree with others that life changes and so on but I just couldn't move with those changes and the concept of cheese helped me...this book is one of my favorites.
Rating: Summary: Clever and Useful Allegory Review: Obviously not the product of extensive research and not meant for scholars. The message is meant for everyone, however, and is presented as a clever and useful allegory, bringing to mind the message vehicle that made Aesop's Fables so famous. You won't lose much time or money on this. If you are really seriously into self-help, however, you definitely should start with the easy-reading, life-changing book by Remick called "West Point: Character Leadership Education" which will provide you with the philosophical basics that support ALL of the self-help books on the market. Like "Who Moved My Cheese", it is also presented allegorically, but is actually somewhat epic in its content.
Rating: Summary: 1 hour 13 minutes and 37 seconds wasted from my life Review: 1 hour 13 minutes and 37 seconds wasted from my life. On the grand scheme of life, wasting 1 hour, 13 minutes and 37 seconds doesn't sound like much. I guess I could have slept-in some weekend for the same amount of time. They translated a 94 page book into this fiasco. Well, the contents of that 94 page book would scarcely have filled a greeting card, with any editing at all. If they had SAID on the label that it was for the preschool set with constant repetition, maybe I would have been able to stomach it. At least Dr Seuss has some great rhythm and rhyme, and you can learn from the salesmanship of Sam-I-Am!
Rating: Summary: Simple truths are sometimes the most elusive Review: The strength of this book is its simplicity. If you're looking for a hardcore psychology text, look to Freud, Jung, etc. However, if you're looking for a book to inspire you to change your behavior, look here. Concepts that are too complex are difficult to keep in mind all the time, as they require too much thinking. But a simple story like this stays with you and, if you're at all introspective, you will remind yourself of the Hem character many times. With this realization happens, you can start acting to change your behavior...and that's ultimately what we're after isn't it? I highly recommend this book.
Rating: Summary: Cheesops Fable Review: As the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus once said, "The only constant is change." The worlds of business, politics, and culture continually bear out this unsettling truth. Unfortunately too many of us have become creatures of habit and refuse to go with the flow. Instead of benefiting from changing winds of fortune, we prefer to dig our heels in and let opportunities slip. These are the problems of attitude addressed in this easy-to-read book by Spencer Johnson, a medical doctor and the co-author of the best-selling business classic "The One Minute Manager." Johnson specializes in helping people discover simple truths that can help them to enjoy more success with less stress. Among his many published works, he has also penned a number of popular children's books. This perhaps explains the simplicity of style in "Who Moved My Cheese," which is best described as a kind of parable that takes place in a maze and features four characters, two mice, Sniff and Scurry, and two mouse-sized people, Hem and Haw. The outlines of the story are reflected in the names of the characters: Sniff and Scurry suggest their uncomplicated, go-getting attitude to cheese, while Hem and Haw are synonyms of acting indecisively. Although some people may find this book patronizingly simple, the adventures of the mice and mini-humans in this Aesop-like fable carry a profound message. While cheese is equally important to all four, the two mice, by having less intellectual baggage, are more adept at adapting to the change represented by the moving of the cheese. Hem and Haw, by comparison, find change more difficult to manage, as it involves changing their self-image and belief systems. Many will see this as a subtle poke at CEOs and politicians who prefer to stick to old formulas instead of embracing the challenges of the future.
Rating: Summary: Take your wormwood. Review: It should be telling that many corporations slip this book to employees just before they get 'downsized'. The message being that anyone who complains about change (in the form of unfair labor practices etc.) ought to just take his or her wormwood and move on. With a decline in real wages, a shift in tax burdens, and a federal government *our government* less and less inclined to regulate an increasingly monopolistic private sector, this book stands as insulting bulwark against what should be a popular outcry against increasing economic injustice. Remember, it's o.k. to ask who moved your cheese sometimes, corporate leaders do it all the time when they fuss about government interference through regulation and taxation.
Rating: Summary: Also knowns as Eat it and grin... Review: This is the most insulting, vile piece of tripe to be foisted off on the working class since the iron law of wages. Any manager who would try to force these ideas on their employees would be better off just spiking the coffee with anti-depressants. The point of this classic work of business literature is that we, the poor schmucks who can't make any decisions, should accept those from above with a smile. Embrace our new role as serfs. If your managers asks you to read it, or, God forbid, runs the movie version, then you should start looking for a new job, because it means that they're getting ready to slash budgets. And we all know that when they slash budgets, they'll nickle and dime employees on everything, freeze raises and slash personnel. However, they'll never reduce the salary of those at the top. If you're a manager, and you're thinking about trying to boost morale with this vomitous mass, I suggest you lead by example. Take a pay cut. Cut some of your perks. After all, its YOUR job to keep the company running, and your fault if it isn't. If you still can't be profitable, and your employees see that you've done this, they'll be much more understanding when you have to start cutting their perks and salaries as well.
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