Have you, like many others, ever felt that you don’t really know how to react when faced with a change in your personal or professional life? Have you ever been surprised by a change that seemed to come out of nowhere? When we are faced with a change, we often tend to look at it from all sides, weigh the pros and cons, and predict the short- and long-term consequences. In short, we tend to focus our attention too much on the details, the tiny specks!

Using the modern allegory of a world in constant change from the book Who Moved My Cheese? I would like to turn the focus onto you and help you become aware of how you react to change.

According to Spencer Johnson, doctor and best-selling author of Who Moved My Cheese?  “Understanding that change is inevitable and accepting change puts you on the path to happiness.”

The book’s humorous approach to change tells the story of four characters – two little people, Hem and Haw, and two mice, Sniff and Scurry – who live in a maze and are looking for cheese. In the story the cheese symbolizes personal or professional goals – what we want in life – and the maze represents where our quest takes place, whether it is in our home, at work or in society at large.

When we look closely, it is easy to recognize ourselves in one or more of the four characters. When faced with a change, the two mice simply use their intuition and instinct:

• Sniff gives a quick smell in the direction of the cheese.
• Scurry quickly jumps into action and, head down, begins scouting the way.

The two little people tend to question the complexity of rational thought:

• Hem resists change and limits himself.
• Haw can eventually adapt when he visualizes the possibilities. He also thinks that if someone else can do it, so can he.

So once upon a time, there were four friends living in a maze that provided cheese and safety, until one day when the cheese was no longer there…

The two mice don’t seem surprised at all, as they had already noticed the amount of cheese decreasing each day. The anticipation of finding more gets our mice moving and on the lookout for another place with cheese.

In contrast to the two mice, the two little people did not anticipate the change; for them, it’s a complete surprise! Hem cries out, “Who moved my cheese?” The two little humans, believing themselves more intelligent than the mice, get lost in complex intricacies, and after two days, they still haven’t moved. During the same period, our friends Sniff and Scurry are running in all directions, using trial and error, until at last they find a new zone they’d never explored before and that has cheese!

Frustration, fatigue and hunger crush the tiny humans’ morale, and they begin blaming each other. Finally, Haw thinks of their mice friends: Where are they? Have they found any cheese? Visualizing himself searching for and finding cheese, Haw tells Hem it’s time to leave and change locations. But for Hem, there is only the unknown and fear on the other side of the comfort zone.

Haw, who has slowly adapted to the change, begins to laugh at the whole situation and decides to venture out on his own to look for cheese. Along the way, he leaves messages on the wall to encourage his friend to follow him when he is ready. Hem is now completely alone and in his own head. He sees a message on the wall at the end of the room: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” He realizes that fear has paralyzed him. Slowly, he looks left and right and begins walking in the dark. As he makes his way, he comes across more messages:

• Imagine yourself finding new cheese and let yourself be guided to it.
• The quicker you let go of the old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.
• Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese.
• Noticing small changes helps you adapt to the bigger changes that are to come.

You have probably guessed that our two little people slowly but surely found cheese. The moral of this story is to be ready for change. You are also encouraged to:

• Anticipate change.
• Smell and taste your cheese often so you know when it is getting old.
• Adapt to change more quickly.
• Change by moving with the cheese.
• Enjoy change and savour the adventure.
• Be ready to change and make the most of life: the cheese is always moving.

This successful book has become a go-to manual in management: SMEs and multinationals have made it a reference for executives and their teams, and doctors recommend it to their patients. The book has also been adapted for children and teens.

Having personally been faced with several changes in a corporate setting, this book more than once made the process easier. I suggest that you try this experience with your team (or with your entourage): have each member read the book and then organize a round-table discussion to see which character you each identify with, where you are in a process of change and how change has impacted you. Have fun with it, and you will see that change often leads you to better places!

I invite you to leave your comments. Thank you!

Christine Lecavalier, Coach CPCC, ACC