Who Moved My Cheese?

Johnson begins by saying he underwent a personal crisis having to do with change and his response to it, which generated profound and perhaps singular self-insight. It speaks to his character that, rather than reveal the personal details of whatever he went through, he instead created a teaching parable about his experiences. Blanchard describes hearing Johnson tell this story multiple times even before they co-wrote The One Minute Manager.

Parables

Parables have been around as long as people could speak. A parable is a tale with a moral or teaching lesson, featuring symbolic or fanciful characters standing in for all humans – including you. Recognizing and considering your strengths and flaws is much easier when they appear in the guise of a parable character’s actions. If you read a story in which the main character shares your name and lives out precisely the same embarrassing or cowardly or stubborn or self-sabotaging behavior you perform, you might well deny that the character resembles you at all. But when a cute mouse named “Sniff” or “Scurry” or one of the littlepeople named “Hem” or “Haw” perform the same act, you can recognize yourself without feeling threatened. This makes you more receptive to the parable’s theme or messages and more open to changing your behavior.