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WHO ARE YOU? In the Maze

Written by: Steven Raelly

Article Overview: It is so interesting how ever so often in business; we get so comfortable in the norm and forget the real reason why we are all in business in the first place. We sit and talk strategies and forget the real reason why we exist. We live our corporate lives as though the world is not changing. What do I mean; we are comfortable in the norm of the day and forget our true calling to service.

WHO ARE YOU? In the Maze

It is so interesting how ever so often in business; we get so comfortable in the norm and forget the real reason why we are all in business in the first place. We sit and talk strategies and forget the real reason why we exist. We live our corporate lives as though the world is not changing. What do I mean; we are comfortable in the norm of the day and forget our true calling to service.

A parable is told of four characters that lived in a maze, two rats and two small people namely Scurry, Sniffers, Hem and Haw, respectively. It so happened that at a particular time of the day these characters would get out of their comfort zones and move to zone C to eat some cheese. This routine went on for many days, weeks, months, and years; till one day the cheese moved to a different location in the maze. Well for the rats this change did not make much of an impact because, for Scurry he scratched around till he found the cheese, for sniffers he sniffed around till he found the cheese; but for hem and haw well it was business as usual, went to zone C walked around in circles and went back home. (Adopted: Who Moved My Cheese; Dr. Spencer Johnson)

Isn’t this so ironic how we often get so stuck in the routine of doing business in our various industries and not realize that the market has changed? How we wake up in the morning go to the office, sit in strategy meetings, but what are we strategizing for. You may be asking what my point is. It is simple:
 CHEESE:- THE VALUED CUSTOMER

 RATS: Sniffers and Scurriers (changers.. Adapt to change)

 MAZE: THE WORK PLACE/Industry

 Small People:- Hem and Haw (Hesitant Changers)

Life has an interesting way of identifying us as individuals, I call it The Paradigm Of Living; there are those individuals in our organizations that fall it to one if not all of the following groups.
• Those who know what is going on around them?
• Those who think they know what is going on around them?
• Those who have absolutely no idea what is going on around them?
As managers the responsibility is upon us to deal with all these characters, some adopt to change, while others are hesitant to change. But lets not place to much focus on the characters in the maze, but turn our attention to Cheese; the reason we all exist. How often have we turned a cold shoulder to our customers? How often have we not noticed that the Cheese is moving? Pause and ask yourself, why is did it move?

Reasons Why the Cheese Moved?
• The Maze got bigger – more competitors in the market place
• The cheese did not feel appreciated
• You did not listen to what the cheese needed
• You forgot that you are ALIVE because of the cheese.

Its about time as managers and business owners we took the initiative and stopped asking WHO MOVED MY CHEESE? And ironed out the reasons why the cheese moved, so as to find ourselves in the MAZE.

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