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Title: Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen ISBN: 0-7868-6602-0 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 08 March, 2000 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.65 (157 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: "Cheese" is the first course, "Fish" is the entree...
Comment: After all of the hype surrounding "Who Moved My Cheese" in recent months, I am truly surprised that this book has not gotten more media attention. It is an easily readable story that talks about one manager's challenge to turn around the morale of her new, highly negative team, and the innovative fish market that teaches her how to do it. Fish is by far the best book that I have ever read about motivating a team through creative leadership, and isn't that what change management is all about?
Many management books provide information on how to begin improving your work environment, but they involve complex analyses that no fast-moving manager has time to complete or constantly reference. The genius of Fish lies in the fact that it provides easily implementable examples of how to dramatically increase the morale of your workplace, and takes only an hour to read.
The basic principle is simple: by creating an environment where your employees are expected to have a great deal of fun each day, your customer service and business results will improve. The atmosphere of fun is created by redefining how you look at your current work responsibilities. Each manager that reads this book will find a different way that the principles apply to his.her particular work situation, and the flexibilty of the authors' message shows how truly brilliant it is.
Fish is a conversation starter and a life changer. No manager who considers him/herself innovative should be without a copy!
Rating: 3
Summary: Great, inspiring read but poor teaching methodologies.
Comment: FISH is written in a parable (short story using fictional characters) format, reminiscent of the style apparent in the classic, bestseller The One Minute Manager. The goal of the FISH Philosophy is to learn how to boost morale and improve operational results in a business organization. As the authors put it "Enclosed are the keys to creating an innovative and accountable work environment where a playful, attentive, and engaging attitude leads to more energy, enthusiasm, productivity, and creativity."
The four key points of the philosophy are:
Play - have fun and create energy at home or at the office.
Make their day - how can you engage fellow employees, customers and make each other's day?
Be Present - How can you make sure you are fully available and aware during conversations with people? It is about create a greater sense of intimacy between individuals.
Choose Your Attitude - Each day you choose how you are going to act or which "side of the bed" you wake up on. The choice is yours and, the way you act, affects others.
In my opinion, this business parable, like the rest of them, is great and horrible at the same time.
It is a great read for the following reasons:
1. It is a quick read. I read it in about 2 - 2.5 hours and I am a fairly slow reader.
2. The book is able to illustrate one point extremely effectively. For example, in this book they show how workers attitudes can impact a setting and how many of us don't understand how our attitude impacts our work setting and quality of life.
3. These are the kinds of books that employees will read as they are 100-150 pages in length and easy to read so a massive investment of time and energy isn't required by employees.
It is a poor book for the following reasons:
1. The authors never give you ways to implement the ideas. Once I was done reading the book I was thinking, "WOW, this is great stuff. Now how do I implement it in my company and, more importantly, what will it take for this to be successful." Which leads me to the next point...
2. While they illustrate certain key elements in the book they neglect to mention that:
a.Employees must trust management.
b.Top managers must be fully committed and "practice what
they preach."
c.Both of the above points are conveyed in the story but
the authors don't tell you about the importance of what
academics term "social capital" in an organization.
My concluding thoughts: 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." I commend the authors on conveying this to readers. HOWEVER, the cons outweigh the pros in this book. Like I pointed out, I really enjoyed reading the book and thought it was pretty effective in showing how an organization can completely turn around but, at the end of the day, no tools were presented to help the reader understand how to implement the FISH philosophy. If top managers don't cooperate or "practice what they preach" or understand why and how this philosophy works it goes nowhere, just like most management programs designed to attain all of the above mentioned goals of productivity, energy, etc.
If you want a great book on business principles I highly encourage everyone to read "The Essential Drucker" by Peter Drucker. Jack Welch is a big Drucker fan and this book is a compilation of his best work of over 60 years and 30 books on management principles.
Rating: 5
Summary: AMAZING
Comment: A fanstatic book with great Ideas! This paired with Maynard Rolston's "Time Management is an Oxymoron" can do so much for a business. "Fish" can help you develop a huge sense of urgency for you and your co-workers, and "Time Management is an Oxymoron" takes hours out of busy work. By Incorporating ideas from both, your business will be at 110% in a very short time.
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Title: Fish! Tales: Real-Life Stories to Help You Transform Your Workplace and Your Life by Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen, Philip Strand ISBN: 0786868686 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: April, 2002 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Fish! Sticks: A Remarkable Way to Adapt to Changing Times and Keep Your Work Fresh by Stephen C. Lundin ISBN: 0786868163 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: January, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life by Spencer Johnson, Kenneth H. Blanchard ISBN: 0399144463 Publisher: Putnam Pub Group (Paper) Pub. Date: September, 1998 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: Gung Ho! Turn On the People in Any Organization by Ken Blanchard ISBN: 068815428X Publisher: William Morrow Pub. Date: 08 October, 1997 List Price(USD): $20.00 |
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Title: Fish! for Life: A Remarkable Way to Achieve Your Dreams by John Christensen, Harry Paul, Stephen C. Lundin ISBN: 1401300715 Publisher: Hyperion Press Pub. Date: 07 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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