Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

Customer Reviews

It's about life!

This is a brief, simple, but elegant book that is an eye opener for those of us who grew up with notions like: "Work is serious, let's have no fooling around!" or "Profit is 'the only' way to measure business success."

The story is told in the context of a familiar business departmental crisis. Traditional management processes have failed and those who tried to implement change left convinced that conditions would never improve in that department (nicknamed the "Toxic Energy Dump").

A new departmental manager is assigned; she must find and implement new solutions or suffer the burden of defeat experienced by her predecessors.

Serendipitously, during her lunch break, she discovers a fish market that does not fit preconceptions for that environment most of us would have, i.e., hard, tedious work under unpleasant, uncomfortable conditions. What she does experience is a group of people who are totally involved with their customers, having a lot of fun, and selling lots of fish!

She asks one of the fishmongers about how they do this. And so begins the odyssey that uncovers the four key lessons she applies to turn her department around. I believe that these lessons are cornerstones for success both at work and in personal life. The lessons may seem simple and obvious, but they are based the deep needs we all have to feel that we matter, to contribute to others, and to enjoy our work.

I attended the first "Fish Camp" in Minneapolis that Steve Lundin and his associates facilitated (they did a great job); I left with the lessons contained in this book. I have discussed these lessons with almost all of the executives I currently coach and have concluded, from their comments, that they both appreciate and apply these insights with success in their work/personal lives and settings. This book is a useful tool in helping people, and groups of people, reframe how they see their work; many discover that they can find enjoyment and satisfaction in their ordinary day-to-day work lives.

Fishmonger lessons for the rest of us

This is a wonderful little book in the tradition of 'Who Moved My Cheese." Fish! explores some of the trickiest and toughest concepts in management - employee motivation and performance improvement. The book introduces a parable that can be used, simplified, or made more complex, depending on your needs. All the ideas are simple and so are their solutions that will guarantee powerful results. The main premise is that you should:

1. Choose your attitude. Your attitude is your choice and is not dictated by anyone, or anything else. If you choose to enjoy your work, you will.
2. Make their day - Make someone day every day of your life. Do something extra, even if it is little or small.
3. Play. All work and no play makes for low morale and bad attitudes. So make your work routines playful and enjoyable for everyone.
4. Be Present. That's the same as saying as forcus on every moment of your life. Don't watch your life go by, BE THERE every minute.

This book should be read by everyone. I cannot think of a single profession or any situation where the lessons of this book cannot be applied with wonderful results. This is a must read for anyone who is tired of existing from day-to-day and has finally made the decision to LIVE.

Always Smell Your Fish Before You Buy

This book was given to me as part of a Fish seminar conducted by my company. The book must be addressed on three different levels: as a story, as a philosophy, and as a business book. The story is about a woman who takes over a failing department in her company, finds the inmates are running the asylum, learns some pearls of wisdom from some local fishmongers, teaches the employees the philosophy, and ends up with a successful department. The preceding explanation is only slightly shorter than the book itself, which contains so much white-space that it could easily be halved, and repeats so often that it could easily be halved again. As bad as the story and writing are, the philosophy underlying the Fish idea is even worse. It is essentially a hedonistic philosophy - that what employees really need to perform well is enough fun at work. The problem is that all jobs and careers involve a certain amount of tedium. Everone must "pay their dues." Too often the people complaining the loudest are those that refuse to deal with tedium as a fact of life. As a business book it fails as so many business books do because the ultimate goal of the book is not to attract a reader, but to convince corporations to buy a whole suite of products and services: the books, videotapes, fun fish things, decorations. Avoid this book, read Drucker instead.