By Daphne Clarance:
With one of the most amazing and sumptuous description, satirical combination of metaphors and success or business management mantras, this is book has definitely out lashed it predecessor ‘Who Moved My Cheese’ by Dr. Spencer Johnson. Written by Deepak Malhotra, this book has explained how it is a counter- point for WMMC and its admirers all over the world. ‘I Moved Your Cheese’ is about how to dig deep into a situation and change them according to your design leaving alone the fact that change in life is inevitable.
Most people would say it is a rebuttal for ‘Who Moved My Cheese’. But here comes a man claiming that WMMC was just another incomplete story. The catch is that no one has actually been able to succeed by mere adaptation to change. There are other things in life that matter like the purpose of adaptation, asking the question ‘Why?’ for every change and solving issues that involve the traumatic mental quarrels with conscience.
Deepak Malhotra, a Harvard Business School Professor, suffices the rules of change in the business world and self succession handed out in Johnson’s book that metaphorically includes mice, maze and cheese. It all happens with a group of mice living in a maze. They now have a ‘Good Book’ considered to render every kind of question a mice has, it provided an insight that caused a revolution among every mouse in the maze. That book (as what WMMC says), says when your cheese is missing don’t spend time criticizing over it, instead adapt to the change get up and work for it until you get it, then only can you move ahead in life. There are three different characters of mice: Max, Zed and Big representing the different kinds of people determined and successful in life. Max moves around, observes everything and then asks a question. He is considered blasphemed among his peers. He read the good book and ‘figured how such a book could be so widely read and blindly accepted’. He was determined to find about who would move the cheese, why was the maze the way it was and how could he possibly change the pattern according to his own will. He set out for one year and tried hard to get out of the maze which could have been the only way to find the answers of all his questions. Next is Zed, considered highly learned, not interested in what others say, builds his own niche for himself and stands out from the crowd. He helps anyone who has trouble understanding the good book and settles any disputes among them relating to topics of wisdom and insight.
Then there is Big, who is talented, works out regularly, is focused, just waiting for the right time to leave the maze and be someone. Big was well built and quite a giant compared to rest of the other mice. One must understand the maze is our life, workplace, homes, societies, communities, and business. And change being an inevitable factor must not rule you but you can change the paradigm of ‘change’ itself.
The turning point of this book that really starts accelerating your interest is when the answer for ‘who moved my cheese?’ is actually answered with a subject.
The book is just a one hour read, with 70 pages of an ‘unbeaten path to personal and business success.’Â The seed sown is that we are living in a society that has stereotypical and cognitive ways of already drilled thoughts and notions. This book says, by showcasing its three essential mice- Max, Zed and Big, that be different and question the way things are instead of blindly following them. Not only can you question, but also change things and environment according your own self.
‘I Moved Your Cheese’Â contains certain questions for readers involved in business organizations who can tackle questions relating to various business strategies and policies, overcoming the boundaries and tying all loose ends to the problems. It really helps you to think as an individual. Deepak Malhotra has indeed worked his best to create the most simple, subtle and effective book for all to read and apply. As the cover quote on the book says so is my opinion for all readers to bask in this source of wisdom, “For Those Who Refuse to Live as Mice in Someone Else’s Maze.”