"Well, Michael, it was a nice little story," Richard, the class skeptic（怀疑论者）, said, "but how did you actually put it into use in your company?"
The group didn't know it yet, but Richard was experiencing some changes himself.
Recently separated from his wife, he was now trying to balance his career with raising（抚养）his teenagers. {1}
Michael replied, "You know, I thought my job was just to manage the daily problems as they came up when I should have been looking ahead and paying attention to where we were going."
"And boy did I manage those problems-- twenty-four hours a day.
I wasn't a lot of fun to be around. I was in a rat race and I couldn't get out."
Laura said, "So you were managing when you needed to be leading."
"Exactly," Michael said.
"Then when I heard the story of Who Moved My Cheese, I realized my job was to paint a picture of 'New Cheese' that we would want to pursue (追求), so we could enjoy changing and succeeding, whether it was at work or in life."
"That's interesting," Angela said.
"Because, to me, the most powerful part of the story was when Haw laughed at his fear and painted a picture in his mind where he saw himself enjoying 'New Cheese'.{2}
It made going into the maze less fearful and more enjoyable. And he eventually got a better deal."
Richard, who had been frowning (皱眉) during the discussion, said, "My manager's been telling me our company needs to change.
I think what she's really telling me is that I need to, but I haven't wanted to hear it.
I guess I never really knew what the 'New Cheese' was she was trying to move us to. Or how I could gain (获得) from it."
A slightly grin crossed Richard's face as he said, "I must admit I like this idea of seeing 'New Cheese' and imagining yourself enjoying it.{3}
It lightens everything up.
When you see how it can make things better, you get more interested in making the change happen.
"Maybe I could use this in my personal life," he added.
"My children seem to think that nothing in their lives should ever change.
They're angry. I guess they're acting like Hem - they're angry.
Maybe I haven't painted a realistic (实际的) picture of 'New Cheese' for them. Probably because I don't see it myself."
The group was quiet as several people thought about their own lives.
"Well," Jessica said, "most people here are talking about jobs, but as I listened to the story, I thought about my personal life.
I think my current relationship is 'Old Cheese' that has some pretty serious mold（霉） on it."
Cory laughed in agreement. "Me too. I probably need to let go of a bad relationship."
Angela countered（回答）, "Or, perhaps the 'Old Cheese' is just old behavior.
What we really need to let go of is the behavior that keeps causing our bad relationship. {4}
And then move on to a better way of thinking and acting."
"Ouch!" Cory reacted. "Good point. The New Cheese is a new relationship with the same person."
Richard said, "I'm beginning to think there is more to this than I thought.
I like the idea of letting go of old behavior instead of letting go of the relationship.
Repeating the same behavior will just get you the same results.
"As far as work goes, maybe instead of changing jobs, I should be changing the way I am doing my job.{5}
I'd probably have a better job by now if I did."
Then Becky, who lived in another city but had returned for the reunion (聚会), said, "As I was listening to the story and to everyone's comments (评论) here, I've had to laugh at myself.
I've been like Hem for so long, hemming and hawing and afraid of change.
I didn't realize how many other people did this as well.
I'm afraid I've passed it on to my children without even knowing it.
"As I think about it, I realize change really can lead you to a new and better place, although you're afraid it won't at the time.
"I remember a time when our son was a sophomore (大二学生) in high school.
My husband's job required us to move from Illinois to Vermont and our son was upset because he had to leave his friends.
He was a star swimmer and the high school in Vermont had no swim team.
So, he was angry with us for making him move.
"As it turned out, he fell in love with Vermont mountains, took up skiing, skied on his college team and now lives happily in Colorado.
"If we had all enjoyed this Cheese story together, over a cup of hot chocolate, we could have saved our family a lot of stress."
Jessica said, "I'm going home to tell my family this story.
I'll ask my children who they think I am, Sniff, Scurry, Hem or Haw?
And who they feel they are. We could talk about what we feel our family's Old Cheese is and what the New Cheese could be."
Frank then commented, "I think I'm going to be more like Haw and move with the Cheese and enjoy it!
And I'm going to pass this story along to my friends who are worried about leaving the military (军队) and what the change will mean to them.
It could lead to some interesting discussions."
Michael said, "That's how we improved (改进) our business.
We had several discussions about what we got from the Cheese story and how we could apply it to our own situation.
"It was great because we had language that was fun for us to use to talk about how we were dealing with change.
It was very effective (有效果的), especially as it spread deeper into the company."
"What do you mean by 'deeper'?" Nathan asked.
"The further (进一步) we went into our organization, the more people we found who felt they had less power.
They were understandably more afraid of what the change might do to them.
So they resisted.
"When the Cheese Story was shared with everyone in our organization, the people who had been resisting saw the advantage of changing.
They even helped bring about the change.
We also passed the story along to people we wanted to do business with.
Then we suggested we might be their 'New Cheese'. It led to some new business."
That gave Jessica several ideas and reminded her that she had some early sales calls in the morning.
She looked at her watch and said, "Well, it's time for me to leave this Cheese Station and find some New Cheese."
The group laughed. Many of them wanted to continue the conversation but they needed to go.
As they left, they thanked Michael again.
He said, "I'm very glad you found the story so useful and I hope that you will have the opportunity to share it with others."The End.