Navigating Change: Lessons from "Who Moved My Cheese?"

A year and a half ago, I came back from the Pinnacle Experience event and told my team, “We are going to burn down our sales process and build it back from the ground up.” They were not excited.

But here’s the truth: change isn’t optional in remodeling—it’s constant. My family’s business is in its third generation. My dad was smart and talented, but like so many guys in a truck, he didn’t have systems. That wasn’t going to be me. I started out installing vinyl siding, moved into the office, and eventually took over the company with one goal: to keep Almar improving. At our annual team meeting, we talk about what’s working, what’s not, and what we want for the year ahead. I always include something for personal development. Last year, the conversation centered on Who Moved My Cheese? By Spencer Johnson, a little book with a big point: if you’re not paying attention, the cheese can disappear overnight.
For remodelers, that “cheese” might be leads, job security, margins, or even happiness. If we want to stay healthy as companies and as people, we need to keep moving toward the next cheese. In the story, two mice—Sniff and Scurry—notice the cheese pile shrinking. They anticipate change and move quickly to find more. Two other mice, Hem and Haw, keep showing up at the same empty station. Hem gets angry and entitled: I deserve the cheese back! Haw eventually adapts, but only after wasting a lot of time in fear.
So, the question is: who are you? Are you sniffing out change early? Are you scurrying toward something new? Or are you hemming and hawing until the pile is gone? The truth is, we’re all a little of each. What matters is whether we recognize it and choose to move.

Keep your eye on the cheese

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned is to monitor my cheese every day. That means watching industry trends, client behavior, and our own numbers. For us, the signal came when the way people were buying began to shift. Average job size changed. Prospects were asking new questions. The sales system we’d been using no longer fit what clients wanted. We track leads, sales, and volume in a spreadsheet going back to 2002. For years, it just sat there. Now we’re using dashboards and asking better questions about the short and long term. It's important to make a 5-, 10-, or 15-year plan, just don’t be afraid to change it when the world changes. We all had great plans before COVID—then we all had to adjust.

Change exposes how rigid or flexible we really are. To me, flexibility means being willing to rework systems, adjust routines, and keep communication flowing. At Almar, that’s meant everything from rewriting intake scripts to simplifying our “do/don’t” lists to adding team check-ins when stress runs high. It’s not glamorous, but the difference between teams that succeed and those that stumble is simple: they move forward instead of getting stuck.

Fear shrinks when progress grows

People don’t resist change because they’re lazy—they resist because they’re scared. Scared it’ll cost too much, take too much time, or make them look bad if they stumble. I get it, but the fear in your head is usually worse than the reality.

The key is shrinking the big fear with small wins. Celebrate the little wins along the way, not just the big three-year goal. Recognition fuels change, so in our office, that can mean cupcakes for hitting a milestone or just saying out loud, “Good job.” Our team has tried “high fives,” “warm fuzzies,” monthly kudos tied to company values, and even a gold star trophy that gets passed around. None of it costs much, but it all reinforces the behaviors we want.

And we try to remember joy. In business, it’s easy to focus so hard on goals that you miss the process. I love remodeling. I love my kids. I want to enjoy the journey as much as the outcome.

Communication is what the listener does

One of my favorite lessons came out of a DISC analysis. I’m a high C—checklist-oriented, task-first. Apparently, my emails were coming off as cold when I thought I was being efficient. To other high Cs in the company, the emails sounded efficient; to everyone else, they sounded cold. I’m glad I got the feedback, and while it hurt my feelings, I’m becoming a more effective communicator—now I add a smiley face, so people know I’m not mad. 😀

That’s the thing about communication: saying it doesn’t mean people hear it. You must adapt to how your team processes information. A good thing to remember is to try to check what people hear after you stop talking. At Almar, we remind ourselves: if we make each other’s jobs easier inside the company, we’ll be better for clients outside. Internal collaboration comes first.

Constant loop of observation, adaptation, and action

Change isn't a one-time event; whether you're a remodeler managing market shifts or a team member adjusting to new systems, the essential lesson from the cheese story remains that flexibility is your greatest asset. It's easy to fall into the Hem-like trap of anger or the Haw-like paralysis of fear, but success is found in embracing the habits of the mice—Sniffing out change early and Scurrying toward the next opportunity. By making the conscious choice to move forward, you not only navigate change with grace but also ensure that your business remains resilient, growing, and poised for sustained success.