Who Moved My Cheese?

The frame: a reunion in Chicago

Who Moved My Cheese? is a short parable about change at work and in life. Spencer Johnson wraps it in a simple frame with three parts. A foreword by Kenneth Blanchard, Johnson's coauthor on The One Minute Manager, comes first. Blanchard explains why he thinks the story helps people who face change.

First comes A Gathering. A group of former high school classmates meet in Chicago the day after their reunion. They talk about how much their lives have changed since school: careers, marriages, moves and setbacks. Several admit that change has been hard for them. One of them, Michael, says a funny little story changed the way he deals with change. The others ask him to tell it.

The middle of the book is the story itself. The last part is A Discussion, in which the classmates talk about what the story means for their own jobs and families.

The central image is simple. Cheese stands for whatever you want in life: a good job, a relationship, money, health, a sense of peace. The maze stands for where you look for it: your company, your community, your family. The story asks one question. What do you do when your cheese moves?

Four characters in a maze

The story has four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to feed themselves and stay happy.

• Sniff and Scurry are mice. They have simple brains and good instincts.
• Hem and Haw are "Littlepeople," beings the size of mice who look and act like people. They have complex brains, full of beliefs and emotions.

Every morning, all four put on running shoes and jogging suits and race into the maze. The mice use a simple method: trial and error. Sniff smells out the general direction of cheese. Scurry runs ahead. When they hit a dead end, they turn around and try another path.

Hem and Haw use their brains. They make plans, form beliefs and depend on past experience. Johnson suggests this makes them more capable in some ways and more stuck in others.

One day all four find a huge supply of cheese at Cheese Station C. The mice keep their habits. Each day they arrive early, sniff around and notice what is changing.

Hem and Haw react differently. They move their homes closer to Cheese Station C. They arrive later each day. They take off their running shoes and hang them up. They decorate the walls with sayings, one of which claims that having cheese makes you happy. They start to feel the cheese belongs to them. They think it will always be there. They do not notice that the supply is getting smaller.

When the cheese disappears

One morning, the cheese is gone.

Sniff and Scurry are not surprised. They had seen the supply shrinking every day. They do not analyze or complain. They put on their running shoes, which still hang around their necks, and head back into the maze to find new cheese.

Hem and Haw arrive later and react with shock. Hem shouts, "Who moved my cheese?" He feels it is not fair. Both of them stand there and complain. They go home hungry, then come back the next day hoping the cheese will return. It does not.

Days pass. Hem insists on finding out who moved the cheese and why. He wants to wait until things go back to normal. He keeps hoping someone will put the cheese back. Haw starts to imagine himself looking for new cheese. He feels afraid of the maze, of getting lost, and of finding nothing. So he stays too, and the two grow weaker and more frustrated.

Meanwhile, Sniff and Scurry explore new parts of the maze. After some effort, they find a large supply of new cheese at Cheese Station N.

Haw's journey and the handwriting on the wall

At last, Haw laughs at himself. He sees how foolish it is to wait for something that will not come back. He puts on his running shoes and asks Hem to join him. Hem refuses. Hem says he likes things as they were and does not want to go into the unknown.

Before he leaves, Haw writes a line on the wall for Hem to think about: if you do not change, you can become extinct. Then he enters the maze.

At first he feels fear. Then he notices that the fear eases once he starts moving. As he travels, he writes short lessons on the walls of the maze. Johnson calls these the handwriting on the wall. Each one captures a step in his learning:

• The more important your cheese is to you, the more you want to hold on to it.
• What would you do if you were not afraid?
• 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.
• Imagining yourself enjoying new cheese, even before you find it, leads you to it.
• The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you find new cheese.
• Old beliefs do not lead you to new cheese.
• Noticing small changes early helps you adapt to the bigger changes that are coming.

Haw finds small bits of cheese along the way. He takes some back to Hem. Hem refuses it. He says he does not think he would like new cheese and that it is not the cheese he is used to. Haw goes back into the maze alone.

Haw also uses his imagination in a new way. Earlier, his imagination made his fears worse. Now he pictures himself sitting in a pile of his favorite cheese. The image gives him energy to keep going.

Finally, he reaches Cheese Station N. He finds Sniff and Scurry there, well fed. Haw realizes he could have arrived much sooner. He also sees that the change was not as bad as he feared. The fear he built in his mind was worse than the real situation.

At Cheese Station N, Haw writes a summary of his lessons on a large wall. Johnson's summary reads like a list of rules for change:

• Change happens. They keep moving the cheese.
• Anticipate change. Get ready for the cheese to move.
• Monitor change. Smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old.
• Adapt to change quickly. The quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese.
• Change. Move with the cheese.
• Enjoy change. Savor the adventure and the taste of new cheese.
• Be ready to change quickly and enjoy it again. They keep moving the cheese.

Haw does not settle into comfort this time. He keeps his running shoes on and explores the maze often so he will notice the next change early. He hopes Hem will read the writing on the walls and follow. The story ends without saying whether Hem ever does.

The discussion

In the last section, the classmates apply the story to their own lives. Each one recognizes a character in themselves or in others.

Some admit they have acted like Hem, refusing to accept a change until it hurt them. Others say they have been like Haw, aware of a change but too afraid to act. Some see themselves as Sniff, quick to sense change, or Scurry, quick to act.

Michael explains how the story helped at his company. It gave people a simple, shared language for change. They could talk about old cheese and new cheese without blaming each other. Another classmate, Nathan, tells how his family's business failed to see a change coming in its industry until it was too late.

The group also sees that the story applies outside work. It fits relationships, health, aging and family life. The common lesson is that change will keep coming. The choice is how fast you notice it and how quickly you adjust.

Johnson's point is that each person has all four characters inside. Sometimes you sniff out change early. Sometimes you scurry into action. Sometimes you hem, refusing to move. Sometimes you haw, learning to adapt when you see that change can lead to something better. The useful question is which part of you is in charge right now.

What the critics say

Critics say the parable oversimplifies change. It treats all resistance as fear, while some resistance comes from good reasons. Because companies have handed the book to staff during layoffs and restructuring, some readers see it as a tool for asking employees to accept decisions without question. It offers no evidence, and the story assumes new cheese always exists if you search for it.

Who should read it

Read it if you face a change at work or at home and feel stuck. It takes about an hour to read, and teams often read it together to build a shared language about change.