Alyssa from Dallas, Texas, is puzzled by some jargon she hears in her workplace. As a management consultant, she’s often warned by her bosses to make sure that employees don’t think that management is moving their cheese. The phrase references Spencer Johnson’s 1998 bestseller, Who Moved My Cheese? (Bookshop|Amazon) This motivational fable is the story of two mice and two tiny humans caught in a maze, and how they adapt — or don’t — when their usual food source is moved to another location. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “The Business Expression “Moving Someone’s Cheese””
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hello, this is Alyssa from Dallas, Texas.
Hi, Alyssa. How are you doing?
Hey, Alyssa.
I started a new job about six months ago. I’m a management consultant, and I’m a bit of a change agent in my role. And so I’ve been speaking to several of our partners about things that we can optimize, things that we need to do differently, putting some new processes in place.
And in several isolated one-on-one conversations with these partners, so not with them together, I keep hearing this phrase with regards to change, which is we need to make sure people don’t feel like they’re moving their keys or be sure not to move that person’s cheese or something regarding change and moving cheese.
And the first time I heard it, I sort of thought that made sense. And the more I thought about it, the more I sort of struggled to understand the meaning. And so I thought I would give you a call to help me with this business jargon mystery.
This makes a lot of sense because this goes back to a book that is what we call a motivational fable or a business fable. Have you heard of this book, Who Moved My Cheese?
No, I haven’t.
Well, it’s a very quick read. It’s a very, very short book. But I think you’re going to find this really helpful because this book was published in 1998 by a physician named Spencer Johnson. And this book, Who Moved My Cheese, landed on the New York Times bestseller list for almost five years. You couldn’t go to an airport without seeing it being sold. It was sold tens of millions of copies.
And this fable is about two mice and two little bitty humans who are in a maze. And the mice are named Sniff and Scurry because that’s what they do. And the humans are named Hem and Haw because one of them is thoughtful and the other one is stubborn. And in this story, they come across some cheese. And for a while, everybody’s happy. The mice are happy and the people are happy. But then change occurs. And the cheese dwindles and disappears. And one of the humans yells the title of the book, Who Moved My Cheese?
And so the rest of the story is about how they adapt to change or fail to. Do they keep going? Do they reason things out? And the book contains a lot of morals to the story, like adapt to change quickly, because the quicker you let go of old cheese, the sooner you can enjoy new cheese. And this is a book that managers picked up and used with their coworkers. Some people have criticized it for being something that management just trots out to justify things that everybody doesn’t like, like downsizing or cost-cutting measures. But it goes back to this playful little book about change and cheese.
Well, that would make a lot of sense, and that was probably just a tad bit before I entered the workforce. So that would make sense as to why it’s going over my head. And I wonder if they’re saying don’t move my cheese as a sequel to Who Moved My Cheese.
Yeah, they may be attached to their cheese.
Yes.
Okay. Well, gosh, thank you so much. I will have to read up on that and start using the vernacular accordingly. I bet there’s a ton of vernacular in the change management business.
Yeah.
Yeah, I’m wondering if some of the workers who say that are from a generation before yours, because this was a wildly popular book in its day.
They are. They’re the partners, primarily partners and principals. So they have anywhere from 10 to 20 years on me. And I love a business book, but that one’s just a little bit older than I would have been reading in college and high school. So that makes a lot of sense, guys. Thank you so much.
Thanks, Alyssa. Take care. Good luck.
Okay. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
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