In an e-mail interview with Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, Malhotra discussed the book, which was released on September 6.Ĭarmen Nobel: In the introduction to the book you state, 'There are ways in which the message of is not simply incomplete, but dangerous.' How is the message dangerous? And what would you say to managers who are considering mass-distributing 'Who Moved My Cheese?' to their employees?ĭeepak Malhotra: If a manager has thought carefully about the message of WMMC and still wishes to distribute it to his or her employees, I am certainly not going to attempt to interfere with that decision.

I Moved Your Cheese reminds us that we can create the new circumstances and realities we want, but first we must discard the often deeply ingrained notion that we are nothing more than mice in someone else's maze.' 'In the face of established practices, traditional ideas, scarce resources, and the powerful demands or expectations of others, we often underestimate our ability to control our own destiny and overcome the constraints we face-or think we face. 'I Moved Your Cheese is based on the idea that success in the areas of innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity, leadership, and business growth-as well as personal growth-depends on the ability to push the boundaries, reshape the environment, and play by a different set of rules- our own,' says Malhotra. “In my view, we should really think twice before telling would-be innovators, problem solvers, entrepreneurs, and leaders that instead of wasting their time wondering why things are the way they are, they should simply accept their world as given” I Moved Your Cheese: For Those Who Refuse to Live as Mice in Someone Else's Maze is like Who Moved My Cheese? in that the new business fable also stars a cast of mice. Harvard Business School Professor Deepak Malhotra thinks not, and he has crafted an allegory with a decidedly un-mousy message.

But is that really the best message to send? Even 13 years after its initial publication, the book, whose characters include mice in a maze, still sits at the top of 's Workplace Behavior best-seller list-thanks in part to corporate managers who distribute it to their employees as a lesson in accepting and anticipating change gracefully. With more than 23 million copies in print, Spencer Johnson's allegorical tale Who Moved My Cheese? is one of the best-selling business books of all time.

Who got my cheese book