Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson is a 96-page parable about mice in a maze who discover that their cheese has been moved. Some mice adapt and find new cheese. Others stand around complaining that the cheese was moved. The book was published in 1998 and has been given to more laid-off employees than severance checks.
Your cheese has been moved. By this, the book means: your job has changed, your industry has shifted, your comfortable routine has been disrupted. The correct response, according to the book, is to accept the change enthusiastically and go find new cheese. Do not complain. Do not mourn the old cheese. Do not ask who moved the cheese or why. Just adapt. Quickly. With a smile.
The book is almost always given to employees by management, which is interesting because management is usually the one who moved the cheese. "We restructured your department and eliminated your position, but here's a book about mice that explains why you should be excited about this."
The mice in the parable never ask: Who moved the cheese? Why was it moved? Was the cheese moved to benefit the cheese-mover at the expense of the cheese-eaters? Could the cheese have stayed if different decisions had been made? These questions are not addressed because the book is not for the cheese-eaters. It's for the cheese-movers, who need a parable to make their decisions feel philosophical instead of self-serving.
Change is inevitable. Adaptation is necessary. These are true statements. But they're true whether or not you read a 96-page book about mice. The book adds a narrative that makes change feel natural and inevitable, which it sometimes is and sometimes isn't. Sometimes the cheese was moved because someone made a bad decision. Sometimes you should complain. Sometimes the answer isn't "find new cheese" but "find out who's moving the cheese and make them stop."