Business Books

There is no management tome more loved--or dismissed--than this simple tale of mice and men forced to negotiate a new paradigm. Why is the best seller of all time?

Illustration by Terry Allen for TIME

Who Moved My Cheese?

By Spencer Johnson

Putnam; 95 pages

When this slim volume made its first appearance 10 years ago, it was vying for attention with Monica Lewinsky and the Clinton scandal. Monica won. But Cheese slowly began to gain traction in corporate circles, even though critics dissed it as an overly broad parable that could be understood by a bright sixth-grader. A year later, it was No. 1 on the New York Times business best-seller list.

A decade later, it still shows up on best-seller lists. Indeed, Who Moved My Cheese? has become the best-selling business book ever, with...

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