For a lot of people who know me, I know you’re looking forward to a cheesy line; well, how about an entire blog post?
I recently saw a tweet asking, “Which was the first book that you read from beginning to end?” Luckily, my memory is one of my strong suits, and I could remember the book, its contents, and the day I read it.
My mom had dropped my sister, cousin, and I at her friend’s place for a sleepover. I was in year two of high school and my expectations were much more like the sleepover scenes I saw in the movies. I looked forward to the sugar rushes from all the ice cream and cakes she’d bake for us, and at least a movie marathon.
After the 7 o'clock news, she switched off the TV and gave each of us a book. She told us that after the news, the culture at her home required everyone to cuddle up with a book till dinner time, after which we had the leisure of getting back to it. She then asked us if we had carried any books with us, and for obvious reasons, we hadn’t. We’d come to have a good time expecting pillow fights.
She proceeded to her home library and handed us a book each. The books were short enough for us to start and finish during the weekend, and interesting enough to hopefully keep us busy too. The book selected for me was Who Moved My Cheese, by Dr. Spencer Johnson. I saw the cover and all I could think about was pizza, as that’s literally the only thing I could relate to cheese. Also, a cheese slice really resembles a pizza slice.
PS: Cheese is used as a metaphor for change.
A mouse and a little person.
From the moment I started reading the book, I couldn’t put it down. The book is about ‘Littlepeople’ and mice running through a maze to find cheese. There are two mice: Hem and Haw, and two Littlepeople who the author describes as beings who were as small as mice but looked and acted a lot like people today.
Walking in the streets of Nairobi, if you are a book collector like I am, you will always see the book among the book vendors on the street. Ever since I started collecting books, I’ve wanted to buy a brand new copy of the book but I never got around to it, until I replied to the aforementioned tweet. The book is less than 100 pages long and has a favorable print so I could easily read it and finish it on my evening bus ride home. But this time around, I decided to read it while meditating on it. This made a huge difference, it took me 7 days, and I intend to make it a ritual to read it every year moving forward.
The book explores how these 4 characters adapted to change . They used their skills and mentors to find their cheese within the maze. Lucky for the group of four, they found Cheese Station C , which was filled with a lot of their favorite cheese. Since then, they would wake up every day and have the cheese to their fill until one morning, when there was no more cheese left. Hence; Who Moved My Cheese?
They did not observe the changes that were happening around them such as the size of the cheese decreasing day by day as well as the moulding on the cheese. They had gotten used to their ways.
This was a huge turning point for all four of them. Sniffy and Scruffy, the Littlepeople, decided to put on their running gear and go looking for other Cheese Stations in the maze.
Hem and Haw stuck at Cheese Station C pondering upon who had moved their cheese. But as time went by, Haw decided to get his running gear on as well and go looking for cheese around the maze. He asked Hem to come along, but Hem declined. At the risk of rewriting the book, they all reacted differently to a similar situation. Sniffy and Scruffy landed a new Cheese Station N, which was filled with different varieties of cheese and by the time Haw got there, the Littlepeople were significantly fatter while he was hanging by a thread having lost weight and energy to get there.
“Smell the cheese often so you know when it is getting old.”
Spencer Johnson, Author;Who Moved My Cheese?
What Haw did that makes me lean towards thinking that I am a Haw in 2021, is that he was afraid at first. He was afraid to go into the unknown alone and he even went back for Hem at some point. On his journey, he also wrote on the walls of the maze the lessons he had learned on the way. But above all, he asked himself, what if I wasn’t afraid to do it? He took moments to laugh at himself and his previous experiences and mistakes he had made.
This year and late last, I have had the opportunity to venture into a new area I never thought I’d explore: Product Management. I was afraid and I’m still afraid of venturing into it. But I realized that my fellowship at Impact Africa Network is my maze and I can choose to be whoever I want. Taking lead on TAPin , which is an exciting platform for techies to showcase their talent, has been challenging, yet thrilling. I can’t wait to see where we go from here.
We recently had the opportunity to pitch some of our projects to Jeff Weiner, Executive Chairman at LinkedIn, and he talked about speed and why it matters in the startup world. Since then, I’ve had an overwhelming desire and drive to be a Sniffy. Additionally, our CEO, Mark Karake always signs off with Onwards and Upwards accompanied by a rocket emoji at the end. I reflected upon these words and emoji and thought ‘Why a rocket?’, and ha! It was right there at rocket speed. That’s exactly what I need to do.
Women are often told about breaking the glass ceiling; but for a rocket to get to its destination, parts of it literally need to burn off while it breaks through the atmosphere.
So yeah, watch this space.
As I sign-off, I listened to my first Masters’ of Scale Lesson hosted by Ried Hoffman and it was about having Bias for Action. The story told was that of Richard Branson and his five-word mantra of ‘Screw It, Do It Anyway’. I think with this mindset, along with one of my favorite Bible verses that says, ‘For He has not given us the spirit of fear, but the spirit of power, love and sound mind’, onwards and upwards is the only way to go!
