Who Moved My Cheese?
- Thread starter Tasha
- Start date
I haven't read it, but dang sure lived it! My cheese seems to ALWAYS be gone by the time I get there...
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"When They turn the pages of history,
When these days have passed long ago.
Will they read about us in sorrow,
for the seeds that we let grow?" - RUSH, "A Farewell To Kings"
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"When They turn the pages of history,
When these days have passed long ago.
Will they read about us in sorrow,
for the seeds that we let grow?" - RUSH, "A Farewell To Kings"
NASA
New member
Tasha, "Cheese" was recently handed out to all of Mgmt. here as "must" reading. The parody was considered "cute" by all the women who said they loved it. The women organized workshops to discuss their feelings about the book and how it affected their lives. Most of the men already understood change management, and went back to work.
Nasa~
Really??? Must be a California thang~
Around here (Maine), the men & women who I know who have read it found the parable to be useful, although not just in a context of management but other aspects of their life as well (examples: my Dad & my husband). In fact, my Dad gave it to his boss (a man) who bought a copy for each of his employees.
I tend not to look at life through the eyes of a sexist, nor from a feminist perspective, so I don't usually find those broad generalities to exist. Then again, I also have not discussed my feelings about the book with other folks, since I can't say I experienced any type of feelings about it. I found it useful, maybe because I didn't already understand change management. TIC
Really??? Must be a California thang~
I tend not to look at life through the eyes of a sexist, nor from a feminist perspective, so I don't usually find those broad generalities to exist. Then again, I also have not discussed my feelings about the book with other folks, since I can't say I experienced any type of feelings about it. I found it useful, maybe because I didn't already understand change management. TIC
NASA
New member
Tasha, I've spent my life consulting in the Military/Aeronautics/Aerospace industry. Crisis intervention and change management are common and necessary tools of the trade. Without this basic knowledge and experience a person is handicapped as an effective manager.
The point I made wasn't sexist, it was factual. Those managers already equipped with this necessary awareness returned to their offices and went back to work. The others have spent the last 3 weeks in a touchy-feelly circle jerk jawboning about this "new concept". The fact that the majority of the "newly enlightened" are women is an element over which I have no control. Just reporting the facts, ma'am.
p.s. - What's the difference between a sexist and a feminist? My dictionary says they're synonyms.
[This message has been edited by NASA (edited 02-26-2002).]
The point I made wasn't sexist, it was factual. Those managers already equipped with this necessary awareness returned to their offices and went back to work. The others have spent the last 3 weeks in a touchy-feelly circle jerk jawboning about this "new concept". The fact that the majority of the "newly enlightened" are women is an element over which I have no control. Just reporting the facts, ma'am.
p.s. - What's the difference between a sexist and a feminist? My dictionary says they're synonyms.
[This message has been edited by NASA (edited 02-26-2002).]
Encore~
I suspect how those books feel will largely depend on if you have the hard or soft cover version. LOL!
Nasa~
Point taken.
Incidentally, my dictionary (Webster's New World College Dictionary Fourth Edition) doesn't refer to sexist and feminist as being synonyms. Granted, my dictionary is outdated since it lists the most recent US president as Clinton...vocabulary may have evolved since my edition. It also defines feminism: the principle that women should have political, economic, and social rights equal to those of men; and the movement to win such rights for women. I just about choked on my lunch when I read that!
Edit: If I would just proof read before I hit the little POST REPLY button.....
[This message has been edited by Tasha (edited 02-26-2002).]
I suspect how those books feel will largely depend on if you have the hard or soft cover version. LOL!
Nasa~
Point taken.
Edit: If I would just proof read before I hit the little POST REPLY button.....
[This message has been edited by Tasha (edited 02-26-2002).]
I think it's ok if you do it in the abstract, or if you add a qualifier.
You know.....
"Encore is a sexist, not that there's anything wrong with that....."
Like that. And never in the humor forum, it's nothing to laugh about.
I admit it....I'm a die hard Seinfeld fan.
[This message has been edited by Tasha (edited 02-26-2002).]
You know.....
"Encore is a sexist, not that there's anything wrong with that....."
Like that. And never in the humor forum, it's nothing to laugh about.
I admit it....I'm a die hard Seinfeld fan.
[This message has been edited by Tasha (edited 02-26-2002).]
Yep, I read it. Have you read "I Got Left Behind When Jabez Moved My Cheese?" Sure fire best seller.
The cheese book has excellent advice for people struggling with change, at least it is good when kept within limits of truth and integrity. In my experience, the sales figures for the book are driven by managers buying it by the case. The managers give them to employees under them to coerce them into acquiesing to any idea the manager has. If the US President gave members of Congress this book in order to bring them into agreement with his ideas, they would laugh him all the way back down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Except for one half of one sentence, the book equates all change with good, and any resistance to any change as bad. Real life has a little more balance. Some ideas and some changes are bad, as VW and
Coke learned when they each changed their proven sales winner. Yep, my ex boss bought a ton of the books, assigned us all to read it. He used it to beat up anyone with anything to contribute that didn't originate with him.
The cheese book has excellent advice for people struggling with change, at least it is good when kept within limits of truth and integrity. In my experience, the sales figures for the book are driven by managers buying it by the case. The managers give them to employees under them to coerce them into acquiesing to any idea the manager has. If the US President gave members of Congress this book in order to bring them into agreement with his ideas, they would laugh him all the way back down Pennsylvania Avenue.
Except for one half of one sentence, the book equates all change with good, and any resistance to any change as bad. Real life has a little more balance. Some ideas and some changes are bad, as VW and
Coke learned when they each changed their proven sales winner. Yep, my ex boss bought a ton of the books, assigned us all to read it. He used it to beat up anyone with anything to contribute that didn't originate with him.
E-Gad Okanagan! That sounds awful! I'm sorry to hear that.
Both my husband & I read the book at the suggestion of my mother, as it relates to some major life decisions/changes that we are currently making. We found it helpful.
My father read it before his new manager did and it made him realize that management had changed, and he needed to adapt to it - or move on.
I don't subscribe to it being driven down anyone's throat...it's just a parable and change is inevitable. Not always good, just inevitable.
It all comes down to attitude....LIFE is 10% what happens to you & 90% how you react to it. We are all in charge of our own attitude.
Good luck at your job!
Both my husband & I read the book at the suggestion of my mother, as it relates to some major life decisions/changes that we are currently making. We found it helpful.
My father read it before his new manager did and it made him realize that management had changed, and he needed to adapt to it - or move on.
I don't subscribe to it being driven down anyone's throat...it's just a parable and change is inevitable. Not always good, just inevitable.
It all comes down to attitude....LIFE is 10% what happens to you & 90% how you react to it. We are all in charge of our own attitude.
Good luck at your job!
DaisyCutter
New member
I had to take a day long class titled, "Who moved my cheese." It was about dealing w/ change. Management made all the employees take the class along with TQM, and Six sigma.
The people in the ivory tower at the aerospace company where I work assumed all the employees weren't capable of reading it for themselves. Now all of the new-hires have to take 3 days of classes where they make boats out of Legos and learn to play nice w/ each other.
The people in the ivory tower at the aerospace company where I work assumed all the employees weren't capable of reading it for themselves. Now all of the new-hires have to take 3 days of classes where they make boats out of Legos and learn to play nice w/ each other.
Tasha, thank you for the lift in my spirit. Your good cheer is a delight. I love my job. Reality is catching up with the guy I mentioned, and I kind of feel for him. Yes, the cheese parable is excellent to help a person figure out what is going on and what to do about it. Actually, I left before the cheese ran out. I made my change because my new boss had definitely reduced the cheese and what was left was starting to stink in the entire company. I honestly wish I could help the guy. He thinks his people are resisting change when the problem is his atrocious people skills, which are alienating those who must work with him.
Hope your changes go well. It was an enormous relief when I made the decison to leave. Fortunately I had a good option to go to.
Hope your changes go well. It was an enormous relief when I made the decison to leave. Fortunately I had a good option to go to.
Thanks RanUtah!
Are ya glad to be kicking all the "tourists" out of your gorgeous state?
Okanagan~
Your story is an inspiration to ME! How funny that management would use Cheese so narrow mindedly....only to have good employees realize that management had moved their Cheese! It's funny in an ironic kind of way.....
Thank you for your kind words. Either way, just by virtue of getting "back into the maze" we are better off than being paralized by the unknown. No matter the outcome, we already feel better!
Okanagan~
Your story is an inspiration to ME! How funny that management would use Cheese so narrow mindedly....only to have good employees realize that management had moved their Cheese! It's funny in an ironic kind of way.....
Thank you for your kind words. Either way, just by virtue of getting "back into the maze" we are better off than being paralized by the unknown. No matter the outcome, we already feel better!