Who moved my F%$ing Cheese!
Who moved my F%$ing Cheese!
Nothing like total global socio-economic upheaval to make us realise the ‘cheese’ supply is now limited or even missing entirely.
Apart from death and taxes, change is really the only other constant that governs life. How we adapt to that change determines our success or failure in acquiring what we want to have in life. In sales, what we want is inexorably intertwined with bottom line figures.
In 1998, the book Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr Spencer Johnson became a bestseller, selling almost 30 million copies worldwide in 37 languages and remaining one of the best-selling business books ever written. The book is a motivational business fable describing change in one's work and life, and the catalyst to adapt when the prized goalpost, depicted in the story as the "cheese", had been moved.
There is nothing quite like the current wave of trade disruption, AI upheaval and geopolitical uncertainty to make us realise the "cheese" supply is now limited, shifting, or in some cases missing entirely. A case of who moved my F%$ Cheese!
If anything, there is a tendency to view change with fear and trepidation. We like to stick to our comfort zone, especially if the "cheese" source appears intact. Although change brings risk, it also presents opportunity.
The instinct most sales leaders have in uncertain times is to push harder. More calls, more pipeline, more pressure on the team. But pushing harder on a system that has structural gaps rarely produces different results. It just exhausts the people.
The smarter move is to first understand where the gaps actually are. Not assume. Validate.
Paradym Shift's Revenue Engine Reality Check is a free diagnostic that gives you a structured picture of how your revenue engine is performing across four dimensions: clarity and alignment, execution and enablement, customer centricity, and leadership and coaching. It takes around ten minutes and produces a scored report with specific observations and recommended next steps.
It will not tell you everything. But it will tell you where to look first.