Who Moved My Cheese?


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Hardcover
96 pages
ISBN 9780399144462 Published Sept. 1998
Penguin Putnam
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Who Moved My Cheese?
By Spencer Johnson, Ken Blanchard Ken Blanchard 

Related Blog Posts
A Defense of Business Books
Posted Aug. 27, 2010 10:47 a.m. by sally-haldorson
In - 800 CEO Read Blog

It's a common reaction. When I explain to people that I work for a bookstore that specializes in business books, most people either furrow their brows or wrinkle their noses. Sometimes this reaction is caused by confusion as bookstores, to most people, are brick and mortar locations that display New York Times best selling fiction, spin racks of greeting cards, and children's pictures books. When that happens, I try to explain, in a nutshell, the origin of our company: we are what is left of the Harry W. Schwartz bookshops, an independent chain of bookstores in Milwaukee that regretfully closed their doors last year. Then I briefly tackle the evolution of our branch of the company: we began selling books mainly to corporate libraries, but that service grew to include speaking events and corporate training programs, then blossomed further into all the work we do online connecting with lovers of business books and connoisseurs of great ideas.

That is the other cause of the consternation. Most people I talk with outside of work aren't business book lovers. In fact, for many people, the only business book they remember hearing about is Who Moved My Cheese, and regardless of how you feel about that particular book, most people don't have any clue just how broad and deep the business book genre is. I've had a plain-speaking tennis league teammate of mine ask, after an explanation of what I do for a living: "So...who reads that stuff?" And just last night, another attempt to explain my job was interrupted with: "Well...I don't think there really are any business books out there worth reading."

Now, I don't like to turn a night at the bar into a lecture on the value of business books, but when confronted with a face that is scrunched up in skepticism or confusion or simple disbelief that there can be anything interesting or even enchanting about the business book category, I try to quickly explain that while you may sit next to someone on an airplane or exercise bike who is reading something practical (though possible unappealing to you) like Getting Things Done, there really is something for everyone in a genre of books that stretches from investigative non-fiction, to novel, to screenplay, to practical advice, inspiring biography.

I find myself recommending books like Bounce: Mozart, Federer, Picasso, Beckham, and the Science of Success to my tennis teammates; The Female Vision: Women's Real Power at Work to my graduate school friends; Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die to my husband, a high school teacher.

This defense of the business book genre and all the sub-genres within echoes the current--and continual--debate about the true value of literary fiction, the undervaluing of genre fiction like fantasy and sci-fi, the misnomer that all fiction by women read by women qualifies as "chick-lit." The fervor over the unrestrained praise of Jonathon Franzen's new novel, Freedom (read more here, here, here, here, and here) is just the most recent example.

For whatever reason, elitism is alive and well when it comes to one's reading preferences. (I'm going to ignore here the current, very elitist, discussions about how reading or publishing a paper book is or is not superior to using an e-reader. I think we've all had a lot of that this week.) Some of this is stubbornness. We put blinders on when it comes to crossing genres. I know that I am loathe to listen to someone expound on the high-quality of science-fiction as I'm not one to be drawn into fictional and fantastical worlds, but at the same time, despite my literature degree, I'm a fan of English police procedurals and a variety of other crime and detective novels. I think I'm an able enough critic to know whether I like a book strictly based on entertainment value versus some truly good writing, but regardless, I'll defend my preferred genre. Some of it is ignorance. Because the business book genre was indeed limited to technical titles or fables about moved cheese for quite a long time, it is hard to spread the word and have people take you seriously that the genre has simply exploded over the course of the past decade.

And so it is that I find myself often defending the business book genre. Whether you have an interest in game theory, a fascination with the sharks on Wall Street and Washington, a desire to create a more balanced work environment for your employees, a need for a retirement plan, a fear of change, or you want to read a great story reminiscent of Mad Men, you can find (with our help if you don't know where to start) a quality book with depth and nuance that strives to be something more than a series of action steps. People in the United States spend a predominant portion of their lives working, and I am a passionate believer that the business book genre contributes to better work environments, improved personal happiness, and increasingly keener intellects.



Jack Covert Selects - Minding the Store
Posted May 20, 2009 4:03 a.m. by 800-ceo-read

Minding the Store: Great Writing About Business From Tolstoy to Now edited by Robert Coles and Albert LaFarge, The New Press, 299 pages, $25.95, Hardcover, August 2008, ISBN 9781595583550

Many of the best-selling business books of the last thirty years are not based on exemplar companies, Fortune 500 CEOs or academic breakthroughs. Instead, they are completely made up; stories fabricated to make a grand point about how business should be practiced. Business fiction clearly attracts large audiences given the success of books like The One Minute Manager and Who Moved My Cheese? The biggest problem with this subgenre is formulaic writing that leaves the reader wondering if they haven't already read this one before (or in some cases, many times before).

However, fiction can still be a wonderful and intriguing tool for teaching business. Joseph Badaracco proved this in his book, Questions of Character, which we reviewed for Jack Covert Selects in 2006 and chose as one of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time. Based on a course Badaracco taught at Harvard Business School, Questions of Character uses literature to explore the difficult questions leaders often face.

Before Badaracco, Pulitizer Prize-winning author Robert Coles was using fiction to teach ethics at Harvard. The dean of the business school caught wind of his work and asked Coles to develop a class for his students. That successful seminar is now also available in book form: Minding the Store, edited with Albert LaFarge, a collection of fiction stories and excerpts that illuminate the ethical and philosophical aspects of business.

The editors divided Minding the Store into five parts. The first section is on "the hard sell," followed by life in the office and how business affects life at home. The final two parts cover failure and death. Not the typical agenda items for the weekly brown bag lunch, but then Willy Loman (from Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman) is not your typical field representative. From Flannery O'Connor to John Cheever to Vladimir Nabokov, this book features some of the best in literature, all of whom teach us a surprising amount about business through their insights into human nature.

And that is one of the results of reading good fiction; we become invested in the characters and wonder what we would do faced the same dilemmas. Minding the Store is a stimulating self-study course during which you will be challenged to construct the questions, as well as provide the answers. Some questions are clear and familiar, while others require deeper contemplation and personal resolution. Consider this your invitation to do some needed soul-searching, with these incredible stories as the guide.



Best Books To Make Best Workplaces
Posted Oct. 8, 2007 2:36 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Lists - 800 CEO Read Blog

Last week, The Wall Street Journal announced their Top Small Workplaces 2007 winners.

The Journal asked the folks who run those places what books they would recommend to others trying to create first-class workplaces. Here the alphabetical list of their selections. Click through on the link above to read the winners' comments:



The Radical Edge review by Jim Egly
Posted June 8, 2006 4:31 a.m. by kate
In Book Reviews - 800 CEO Read Blog

Review of The Radical Edge

By Steve Farber, Kaplan, April 2006

Ah, the joy of summertime. A chance to slow down and take some time off. Maybe a quick trip to beach or a visit to family members. But, then comes the problem of reading material. Don't want to take up valuable suitcase space with something so large that you have no space for anything else. Something on the small and light side, with perhaps just enough new insight and interest to keep the pages turning. May I suggest that you pick up The Radical Edge by Steve Farber. At 161 pages in the small book format, it won't take you long to read or take up much room in your luggage.

As in his first book we are lead through the story with management guru, Steve. He lives in his fabulous Mission Beach apartment in San Diego, California apartment battle weary and ready for his next assignment. Like a Hollywood movie, Steve paints a picture of his hectic life and it is here that you might forget that you are reading a business book and instead think you are reading the latest pulp paperback. Some authors are able to tell a story that provides an aha moment that catch you off guard. Mark Sanborn's book Fred Factor comes to mind as just such a device that works well. Dr. Spencer also did it in his book Who moved my Cheese?.

In such a brief book Steve works in many voices and while amusing I found myself wishing that he would get to the point. Not a bad way to spend a summer afternoon or a plan ride. As a quick, pleasant read you won't be disappointed. If your looking for a more detail road map you may want to look else where.

Steve makes the point to wake up and network with other people to change the world and yourself well and often. Radical Edge may be too touchy feeling for a lot of people. Radical Edge can be a way to stimulate conversation if handed out for a group read.

------

Reviewed by Jim Egly



Bookscan's Best Selling Books of 2005
Posted Jan. 9, 2006 4:41 a.m. by todd-sattersten
In Leadership - 800 CEO Read Blog

Neilsen Bookscan released their list of the 200 best selling books of 2005. Bookscan takes data from about 4500 retailers around the country. When we talk with publishers, they are watching closely what happens there.

I pulled the business books from their list (you'll see my definition is a little loose):

6. World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman


13. Blink by Malcolm Gladwell


15. Freakonomics by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner


42. Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell


55. Winning by Jack Welch


59. Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki


67. Good To Great by Jim Collins


86. On Bullshit by Harry Frankfurt


128. The Money Book for the Young, Fabulous, and Broke by Suzy Orman


141. Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson


167. Now, Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham


173. Secrets of the Millionaire Mind by Harv Eker


183. Jim Cramer's Real Money by Jim Cramer


191. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

I also love that you will find Oh, The Places You Will Go! at #107 and Green Eggs and Ham at #156.




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