Who Moved My Cheese?
by Arthur R. Thompson, CEO, The John Birch Society

Ten years ago, Spencer Johnson, M.D., wrote a fine little book entitled Who Moved My Cheese? For those familiar with books of this type, it was penned by one of the authors of The One Minute Manager series of leadership books.

The book isn't really about cheese; it presents a fictionalized account of what happens to various types of people when they find that their lives are changed and how they adapt to the change. Some will sit still waiting for their cheese to reappear, whether it is their livelihood or some other aspect of their life. But it doesn't happen and they fail. Or, there are those who will go looking for their cheese in other locations. In other words, there are some who do not sit around waiting for a handout and take advantage of an opportunity to excel within a different environment.

This message all takes place in a maze with lab mice that look and act a lot like people.

I recommend the book to anyone, particularly because we have been moving a lot of cheese in our organization lately. In nearly every case, the effort has been beneficial for the organization and/or those who utilize the new tools and methods we have "rearranged."

As I have mentioned before, I have a problem with the old saw, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it." I greatly prefer, "If it can be done better, you'd better." The former leads to stagnation; the latter to improvements.

We live in a world of tremendous transition. Technically, it is for the better. Socially, it can leave a lot to be desired.

We can communicate with anyone instantly anywhere in the world. But do we really communicate well in the midst of an ongoing breakdown of the art of communication? I refer not only to the online lack of physical interaction but also to the failing education system we now have that does not teach etiquette, grammar, verbal precision, etc.

Another current problem is that while we have all sorts of means to communicate, we find ourselves in a "texting" world where the very existence of the English language is threatened. Employers are complaining about this more than ever because their employees increasingly do not have communication and writing skills. And I assume this has become a problem in other countries and with other languages as well.

We can bond online with others using social networking, but do we ever get to really know others as a friend for life unless we interact with them face to face? Only time can tell. And time has shown that the pen pal communication method had mixed results.

We want to see our members and friends involved in our Birch social networks — but only as a step toward bonding together into physical organization, utilizing the social networking as a means to an end, not the end itself.

Many of our members do not like the social networking aspect of this online tool. Their cheese has been moved. We have to get people to understand that it is a means to an end. It is a way to reach others instantly. It is much easier than the telephone. It is a way to communicate back and forth in a manner that can be less disruptive than answering the telephone at a moment when you wish it had not rung. It is a boon to planning activities as a result.

Almost everything that we do has a downside. The above is only a part of the downside of the Internet tools we now work with. However, the upside is so advantageous that we cannot even entertain the thought of not using the Internet or any tool that can propel us ahead. This includes the use of the forum aspect of our site. Granted, we will see from time to time people misusing the system to post ideas we find objectionable. But we have to maintain the tool to give us the eyes and ears of not only our members but our constituents to feed us information. It fills the gap of the old Members Monthly Message (MMM) we used to have in the early days of our Society.

Our members have always been our best intelligence system. Just as we received in the MMMs information and ideas that we eschewed in the 1960s, we likewise see that on the forum. Our in-house MMM Department handled it then. Today the web is so large, catering to hundreds of thousands of visitors, that there is no way for our staff to monitor the forum 24/7. Therefore we must rely on our members to do that for us and inform us through email that we need to remove offensive material as soon as we can. But to not have the forum would be very crippling to our overall efforts. The positive aspect will greatly outweigh the negative. The positive has garnered us the hundreds of thousands of visitors and extended our influence well beyond our membership.

If I were a volunteer leader or a member of the Field Staff, I would use this network to expand my influence better than anything we have ever had at our disposal before, not only in the history of the Society, but in the history of man. The Left is using this tool to organize. The neo-cons do the same. These are clues as to what we should be doing.

We have to be looking for new cheese, not sitting around waiting for old cheese to reappear.

If we are among those who wait, we will atrophy to the point where we cannot reverse the process once the realization dawns that there is some other technique that we should have been utilizing all along. We will not have the strength or the technical capability.

And here I am talking about localized leadership, not the organization as a whole. For as a whole, we have been moving the organization forward. Where our local leadership has been using our new tools, the growth is outstanding.

Keep in mind, too, that those we need to fill our ranks and help us win this war are those who are familiar with the new technology we see all around us. They will look upon anyone who is unfamiliar with this technology as a dinosaur, and they will be reluctant to follow ancient-type leadership. It's that simple.

This is a clue for those of us who are dinosaurs: Learn the new technology and keep up, or become ineffective to the movement in the long run. Even ineffective in the marketplace. Harsh words, but true.

I have forewarned the members of our staff that they must all become well versed in "computer" or find that they will be left behind. It is that serious.

Until recently, we had some on our staff who were so removed from this reality that they didn't seem to realize that the real world had changed to the degree that they would be hard pressed to find a job today that does not use computers. Nearly everything today is done in some fashion using computers: mechanics, retail workers, clerks, teachers, and on and on. Most companies today need the ability to text, have instant communications with the home office, take and place sales orders, etc., while in the field doing their job. And they need employees who can do all this.

With regard to the social networking aspect, I quote from an article that appeared in Michigan Business on Mlive.com:

Employers who figure out how to use social networks to improve business results could gain a competitive advantage over others who don't know a Facebook from a facelift.

Our cheese has been moved. We have not only found the new cheese, we have come to understand that we had better start looking for new cheese every time we have even a hint that it may move again.

Let me refer to a story that I have started telling as an example of change and how you may be at the cutting edge today and be left behind tomorrow.

Ask someone younger than 18 what a Polaroid camera is. I think that you would be surprised at the answer.

Polaroid came up with a revolutionary process that met the desire of consumers to have instant photographs. The quality was not good in the beginning, improving over time, but it was never really what one could call professional. It left the other photography companies in the dust except for customers desiring a high-quality product and a willingness to accept the time necessary to get that quality. The other drawback of Polaroid was that one size fit all; there was little variation in the size one could produce.

The business the other photography companies lost prompted intense research and development on their part to regain the niche of the market lost to Polaroid.

Meanwhile, Polaroid concentrated on protecting its patent. In the end, along came digital technology and the marvelous things we can now do with our cell phones and iPods, not only taking the pictures but editing them at the same time and reshooting duplicates on the spot. Not to mention the ability to move these pictures into any form we desire by downloading them and preserving the moments we have captured, printing out copies in a wide variety of sizes, even putting them into active picture frames sitting on a tabletop or wall that loop the pictures every few seconds — an active scrapbook.

Polaroid protected its patent while the cheese moved. In February 2008, Polaroid announced it would discontinue production of film, shut down three factories, and lay off 450 workers. The company's new owners have since diversified — found new cheese.

The John Birch Society was at the leading edge of the Americanist movement when we started. We still do a great deal that no other organization is willing or able to do. But we need to constantly remember that as long as we are not violating our principles or reputation, we must look for the best means to get the job done, to win this war against the forces of evil.

We want to be the cheese movers rather than those who are constantly looking for new cheese. This will make people who are uneasy with change a little nervous. But as I said, "If it can be done better, you'd better."

On another note, by the time you will have read these thoughts you will have received in the mail the Spring Appeal asking for your assistance with our plan to place staff into the single congressional district states. We vitally need your help in this important venture. At a time when the economy is suffering, we have to call on those who best know both the problem and the need for bold action, and that is you our faithful members.

Please do what you can at this time. If you have not read the letter, please take the time to do so.