Who Moved My Cheese?

Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.

“Sniff’s Business Model”

In this activity, students invent a business and participate as Sniff to discover changes that could be made to the business to improve practices; then they develop a plan to implement changes the way Scurry might.

Now that you have eavesdropped on Michael’s class reunion, hearing his ideas about change and some stories about how these ideas apply to businesses and relationships, consider how this approach to adaptability could improve the performance of an imaginary company.

• Invent a company in a particular industry and use some of the latest techniques to “sniff out” changes the company needs to make to adapt to change. What shifts or changes might be on the horizon that the company will need to address?
• Describe how you, like Scurry, would go about making the necessary changes in the company’s business model.
• In your model, include details to convince Hem and Haw to embrace the changes to the company’s vision.
• Pitch your new business model to the company’s employees, describing your execution plan in a slideshow presentation delivered by Sniff and Scurry.

Use details from the book to support your portrayals of Sniff, Scurry, Hem, and Haw.

Teaching Suggestion: Students may benefit from researching additional information about the latest business practices and technologies to help them in their analysis. Depending on your group and the various backgrounds and levels of experience represented, students might find it helpful to select a business they know well or research to make changes to.