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Who Moved My Cheese? Book Club Part 2

By Ann Russo posted 05-24-2011 08:20

  
So, I’m diving into the first section of the book, The Story Behind The Story intro by Kenneth Blanchard, PhD. It’s a very nice intro, but I don’t know who Ken Blanchard is – I mean, his name sounds familiar, but I couldn’t tell you who he is -  so I googled him and found out he’s a management expert. He coauthored The One Minute Manager with Spencer Johnson, author of WMMC? How exactly does one get to be labeled a “management expert” - ? Because I would love to be labeled an expert at something. Anything – almost!  Wikipedia has a nice blurb on Ken Blanchard , so I won’t retell you what it says http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Blanchard

I read The Story Behind The Story and went back to review the Parts of All of Us page. So, each of us sniff, scurry, hem and haw, huh? We do all of these things, yet not all of these behaviors lead to success. Who intentionally follows a path that leads to destruction or failure? Hmm… more on that later…

I’m interested in learning more about the “Maze,” particularly how this relates to relationships. Last Friday, my seventeen year old son graduated from high school. I’ve had a lot of weepy moments over the past week, leading up to the commencement ceremony (Notice: commencement is a synonym for the beginning or the start of something). It’s the end of high school, but the beginning of so much more for my son. And I’ll tell you, things have not turned out like I planned. When I carried him in my arms so many years ago, I had planned for him to be the class valedictorian with an Ivy League future. I thought I would be sitting in the audience next to his father – my husband – but we divorced several years ago and aren’t exactly friendly to each other.  I didn’t think things were going to be like this.  I could obsess and be terribly depressed over the way things did not turn out. And believe me, for quite a while, I was.

But, there was a different plan. Maybe you believe in God, maybe you don’t. But I believe God had another plan for me. And I believe God has a special plan for my son - my teenage son  who will officially be an adult by the end of summer, who isn’t at the top of his class nor is he going off to an Ivy League school, but he is one terrific kid (yes, I do have that bumper sticker).  He’s tall, he’s handsome, he’s seeking God, he’s got good friends, he’s got a part time job, he’s got local college plans for the fall -  The idea I have held onto, is that his graduation from high school is not the end – it is just the beginning.

Plans change - this book is trying to impress upon us, plans change. Circumstances change. Sometimes people change (I think that includes me). I’m looking forward to the next section of the book, A Gathering.

What have you gotten from the book so far? What has it caused you to think about or to reflect upon?

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Comments

Michael LaFond
06-01-2011 10:08

Everyone needs to deal with change, because change happens. But not all change is random, good, or even necessary. I would recommend anyone that reads this book or the One Minute Manager also read the 59 Second Employee for some balance.
While there is a good lesson here that most of us learn the hard way, I think that a discussion should be more than cheerleading. What would it say about management that the cheese is being moved randomly and that employees have not been told exactly where the cheese is? Unfortunately, this kind of management is all too common. Notice that the unseen manager is so far above the mice . . . uh, I mean employees . . . that it would not be an exaggeration to compare the manager to God. Very comforting for the manager.
I suppose this is great as a feel-good exercise, but I have seen too much blaming the employees and expecting nothing from managers. Perhaps, we should remember that the "cheese" for us is not the example in the book; it is not getting fat without goals; rather, most of us are dedicated professionals and our "cheese" is public service and public safety. Why would anyone want to hide our cheese?

Dawn Baldwin
05-24-2011 11:28

Thanks for getting us started, Ann!
Two things from the "Parts of All of Us" and "The Story Behind the Story" caught my eye.
First, the closing sentence from the "Parts ... " says, "Whatever parts of us we CHOOSE to use, ... " How often is our response to change a knee-jerk reaction rather than a conscious decison to navigate the maze? It seems impulsive, reactionary responses often lead to chaos or dysfunction but making intentional choices help navigate us towards success.
Secondly, from "The Story ... ", Blanchard says, "you can see it would be to our advantage to do the SIMPLE things that work when things change."(pg 18 in my copy) In our complex world, how often do the decision makers think bigger, faster, stronger, fancier, or more complex is better? Don't get me wrong, I am all for moving forward and embracing new technology, etc. But ... there is something to be said for simple solutions, stream-lined protocols, consolidated efforts ... which in and of themselves are often a change to be embraced.