8 Helping to Move the Cheese: Closing the Circle of Innovation
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Published:2012
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The title of this chapter was inspired by the Spencer Johnson, M.D.45, acclaimed book Who Moved My Cheese? The book tells a simple and amusing story of four characters that live in a maze and look for cheese, a metaphor for what you want to have in life, to nourish them and make them happy. The story reveals profound truths about change that give people and organizations a quick and easy way to succeed in changing times. The book tells the story of two mice named Sniff and Scurry, and two little-people of the size of mice, Hem and Haw, who look and act a lot like people, are the protagonist. In the context of the story, cheese can be a good job, a loving relationship, money, a possession, health, or spiritual peace of mind, while the maze can be depicted as where you look for what you want, such as the organization you work at, or the family or community you live in.
In the story, the characters are faced with unexpected change. Eventually, one of them deals with change successfully, and writes what he had learned from his experience on the maze walls. When you come to see the handwriting on the wall you can discover for yourself how to deal with change, so that you can enjoy more success and less stress—however you define it—in your work and in your life. Unfortunately, innovation has always been a primary challenge of leadership. Today we live in an era of such rapid change and evolution that those leaders must work constantly to develop the capacity for continuous change and frequent adaptation, while ensuring that identity and values remain constant. They must recognize people's innate capacity to adapt and create—to innovate.
Today's business landscape promises to be an exciting time. While there are many management, leadership and economic theories on what the future holds, we can all agree there will be a great deal of constant and revolving changes. Leaders must be prepared to successfully guide their groups and organizations through change to survive, innovate and prosper. This preparation should first begin with an understanding of organizational culture and the levels of culture. Analyzing a group's artifacts, values and beliefs, and basic assumptions will shed insight into the actions and reactions of a group.