A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results

Fish! is a wonderful little book with a super philosophy: Play; Be there; Make their day; and Choose you own attitude. I've been to the Pike Place Fish Market and I use the "Fish Philosphy." Simple and powerful!

The essential assumption of Fish! is that workplace conditions will not improve, so get right with it. It's a hard thesis to argue with given how dramatically the power balance has swung to employers over employed in the United States since 1980. We are at a point now where office jobs requiring at least some education beyond high school are treated the same as retail positions; churn-and-burn with no security or respect and a focus on conforming to personality and" philosophical" standards well beyond performance of the job. We see this in the first "practice" of Fish!; "Choose Your Attitude". As a practical reality in today's workplace, this mantra is somewhere between "whistle while you work" and "the beatings will continue until morale improves". As advice on how to survive a little bit longer in our culture of insecure employment- don't be a negative- it's indisputably true; but as a way to make the workplace vibrant, it's simply window dressing. Morale doesn't go up, but fear certainly will once the attitude police start patrolling. At best, it provides a cover to management and possibly assuages any of their guilt. (I am a senior manager, but not an executive, at my firm, for what it's worth.)

You'll certainly see some people in the workplace respond to the first practice, as well as the second practice, "play[ing at work]". Some people are just naturally positive and don't mind the paternalistic tone Fish! conveys. But those people are unlikely to be the problem anyway, at least in terms of morale. The rest of us grit our teeth and play along out of fear of being branded a malcontent. To be fair, there is something to be said for managing out people who can't play along; they probably are toxic. The people who hate it but play along understand work requires getting with the program; this is a sign of maturity. But this gets at what "Fish!" misses in its paeans to honesty and "speaking from the heart". Insincerity is basic tool of social interaction; the ball bearings that keep us from screaming at each other all day; why would work be any different? My advice: speak from the brain.

As presented, the book can be painful. The narrative format is unnecessary and probably too corny to reach anyone who isn't already wholly positive to begin with. It is mercifully short, however, and the initial description of the toxic department is realistic (even if their miraculous turnaround thanks to Fish! is not).

The Fish! philosophy gets some things right about managing change: open, early communication with the decision-maker right up front. This sets the tone, encourages by-in, and makes it harder for people to ignore the new policy/procedure/etc. Explaining the "why" while still holding firm to the inevitability of the change is important, and you see that in this book. Further, managers with a traditional philosophy of "no fun at work" can certainly learn the benefits of allowing a little slack-time: less turnover, in-fighting, and more willingness to do the extra things that are hard to metric. But the Fish! practices won't fix a "sick system" at the workplace; as it puts the burden on the worker to suck it up; rather than any honest reevaluation of the workplace created by management. And ultimately the Mary Jane of the narrative probably lacks the organizational power to do any of that; but hey, at least she was able to tell everyone to buck up with the full backing of a guy with a Ph.D.

In conclusion, the most useful function of Fish! is one not intended: it's a great manual of what management is thinking. Plan accordingly.

Is it an act? I met a fishmonger a few weeks ago in Seattle at the Pike Place Market. I wish I could tell you his name, but I wasn’t in a journalistic mood at the time (I forgot it). After reading FISH! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results recently for work, it was interesting to see how the employees actually were. He was dynamic, engaged and happy to tell me and the gathering crowd some fun story about their last staff meeting.

If you’re not familiar with this common best practices business book … it’s basically about how one struggling manager in finance learns from those very fish market employees how to create a successful workplace with four simple concepts:

1. Make their day
2. Be there
3. Play
4. Choose your attitude

“We took a stand that we were going to become world famous. We just said it and it became so.”
How did the FISH! Philosophy come into play? It started when the fish market owner, John Yokoyama, was nearing bankruptcy in the late 1980s. He and his team consulted a business coach and changed their ways completely to start focusing on those four aspects. They introduced flying fish, interactive games and customer performances. In an interview Yokoyama said: “We took a stand that we were going to become world famous. We just said it and it became so.”

Well-known businessman and hospitality expert Jon Taffer hit the concept on the head. “When my company does a good job, we make people happy,” he said. “They laugh, they smile, they have a good time – that’s what we do for a living. Any business doing that is making a noble effort.” He probably read the book.

It’s important to try to simplify the problem as much as you can, but I recognize it’s also very hard. The FISH! culture teaches you to think about creating the kind of workplace ethos you want to succeed. Even if you love your job, you probably don’t love every single thing about it but the point is to bring joy to how you approach it. And because of that, I think it’s more important than anything to choose your attitude.

Thanks for reading! If you want more of this kind of stuff, you can find me on Instagram: @lunarismoon

With a forward by a respected Author such as Ken Blanchard you know that the book is going to be good, but this book is great and it's one of my favorite books that I have reported on for my company's BetterBookClub.com program!

In a world where 99% of people have smart phones I feel that the Fish! Principle of "being present" is the most important take away from this book. Being present is more than being physically in a certain location. It means that you will need to be an active participant in life that is happening around you. However, I don't see how any one could disagree with a single point in this entire book. No one wants to work an a "toxic energy dump" and it is everyone's responsibility to make their own work environment one that they thrive in and not just survive in each and every day. No matter your working conditions-in a Fish Market or in a corner office-it is the person's choice to have choose their own attitude. (Which is the first lesson of the book.) The stand out quote from this section is simply, " There is always a choice about the way you do your work, even if there is not a choice about the work itself."

My favorite quote from this book is, "Meaning is not something you stumble across...Meaning is something you build into your life. You build it out of your own past, out of your affections and loyalties, out of the experience of humankind as it is passed on to you, out of your own talent and understanding, out of the things you believe in, out of the things and people you love, out of the values for which you are willing to sacrifice something...Let it be a life that has dignity and meaning for you. If it does, then the particular balance of success or failure is of less account." -John Gardner (page 104-105) I liked this quote the best because everyone seems to always be looking for "meaning" in their life. This quote says that "meaning" is in everything that you do already.

My big take away from this book is to have the courage to change. No matter how many people are choosing one path-rather it is having a bad attitude, not being present, or having fun at work-I can always choose to make a change. By stepping up and out, hopefully others will see it and follow. Also, making someone's day doesn't have to be expensive. A simple thank you card or taking them out to lunch are great ways to show that you respect them and that you have an interest in the person as a whole.

This is a book that anyone at any level of the company and with any job title would be able to benefit from by reading it and by implementing the ideas from the book. I strongly believe that anyone who has an interest in joining or who has joined either cj's or LIP's Fish! teams should read this book to fully understand the main principle of making work fun, and not just having fun at work. And as a heads up, I know that not everyone is a fan of books that are written as parables so be forewarned that this is how Fish! is written.

A parable for both business and personal life, on how to improve your situation through small adjustments in your attitude, how you choose to be in the workplace and who you are to those you interact with. The story is compelling and fun, east to read, and quite sensible.

This is a short book, and while it's message is obvious, it's written in a way that makes you think that maybe if you would make the sort of adjustments it suggests in your life and your work, that maybe things can get a little bit better.

As with any book of this sort, what you the reader will get out of it will depend on your ability to work the principles outlined in the pages.

I bought this book as a first edition back when it first came out, and found it worth the read, and many re-reads since. It's a short read, and well worth the investment of time you put into it. The book is simplistic, and for some it may be considered trivial.

I try to keep an open mind about such books, and absorb the message as best I can because sometimes it's helpful to have a refresher, or even a little guidance.

It's easy to dismiss the message as trite and still miss the point of the book. A well written parable has a way of making us think about the message in a way that can have effective change, and this is one of those parables. Anyone can bullet point the principals in any book, and toss out the rest as fluff and padding, but what good are words on a list if you are not enthusiastic about their implementation?

It will stay on my shelf of favorites for years to come.

It took less than an hour to read this book and it was a pretty fun read. It's the story of how a supervisor at a financial institution brings about great changes in one of the company's worst departments. This change is brought about as it uses the philosophy of the world famous Pike Place Fish Market.
This book is a story, not a straight dicactic tome. That may be one reason that this book and the whole "Fish" franchise is succeeding. It is built on stories - real and fictional - of people and companies who have made great changes using the Fish philosophy. The "Fish" message is simple - choose your attitude, play or have fun at work, make someone's day, and be totally present wherever you are. This is not deep stuff, but conscientiously following these steps can make a big change in the way you work and live.
As regards choosing your attitude, the Fish people remind us that we cannot always choose our work, but we can choose our attitude toward work. The message here is of personal responsibility. As regards play, this book reminds us that it is ok to have fun at work. In fact fun is integral to work - people who are basically happy and enjoy what they do will be far more productive. The message of making someone's day simply resonates with the Biblical imperatives of servanthood. We exist to serve others and this servant attitude can permeate our work lives and make a difference. The final step, of being present wherever you are reminds us all to engage the people and surroundings we find ourselves in at any moment. Rather than being pre-occupied with someone or something else, we need to focus on those around us.
The story sometimes is a little contrived, but for the most part it makes the point well in an enjoyable fashion. As one who is a stranger to the Pikes Place fish market I would like to have heard a little more of its history. If that is not in one of the follow-up books to this then it would be good as a forward or afterward in future editions of this book.
All in all, it's a quick read, worth a little of your time.

The basic premise of this book is how to re-energize your workforce by using principles applied successfully at a Seattle fish market.
I grew up in Seattle, and know the Pike Place Market well. The book accurately depicts the passion the "fish mongers" have for their work, and if you are ever in the area, stop by and watch the fish and the verbal bantering fly through the air. They really do live their work!
Now, about the story. In this (very short) book, the author tries to spin a tale of a woman, recently widowed, who is promoted to managing the classic "toxic" work group. Her objective: improve their performance and attitude. One day while strolling through Pike Place at lunch she happens on the fish market. The next thing we know, she is getting advice about how to re-energize her workgroup by using the basic principles applied at the fish market.
The bottom line of the story is that she applies the principles and changes the performance and attitude of her team. The bottom line of the book is that it presents some great principles, dresses them up in a hokey and overly sappy story with a way too contrived ending. Despite that, it is still a good story and the principles are sound. From what I hear the video is much better than the book so I would recommend that first.

One of the principles this book promotes is playing while at work. I never thought of the importance of play, but it's something that I've seen removed from the culture of my company, and the downward shift in moral now makes a whole lot more sense. I've noticed that we get more productivity out of people who spend 10% of their workday having fun than from any two grumps who are 100% "productive".

I want my workplace to be happy and I think this is an excellent guide.

FISH is truly a fun book -- fun to read, fun to think about, and fun to use. I notice that I'm not the only FISH reader who also bought WINNING WAYS: FOUR SECRETS FOR GETTING GREAT RESULTS BY WORKING WELL WITH PEOPLE, by Dick Lyles. I highly recommend reading both books together. FISH shows how to find enjoyment and happiness in your job, and WINNING WAYS shows how to find fulfillment in relatinships with others. It vivdly illustrates how to increase your effectiveness and enhance your personal power with everyone around you.
Both books are written like short novels, so the characters are easy to identify with. The fictional format made it super easy for me to relate to the ideas and figure out ways to make my work more fun and my relationships more satisfying.
I don't know what the authors' secrets are for finding such clever ways to get these lessons across, but both books contain lessons every one of us can use to achieve greater happiness and success in our careers. Although I read both books a couple of months ago, I got a promotion just last week because I've been using the ideas at work.
Everyone who wants a more positive outlook about their work should read FISH, and everyone who wants to be more influential and have truly positive relationships with co-workers, friends, and family should read WINNING WAYS.

We come across several instances where the work place is described as: "foggy; smoky; need a chimney to clear the place; this place stinks". Work at such places is not only drudgery for those who work in but also an even worse experience for customers who need to interact with them. Typically such places are described as bureaucratic bastions wrapped in red tape, blissfully wasting time and energy in all things other than serving the customer. No prizes for guessing an "ideal fit" describing such situations.
If you cannot breathe, then swim; learn to swim from fish -literally. Learn what you should from the ones who are the best at it. This book shows the way through a simple story, with a happy ending. Mary Jane Ramirez is caught in the midst of a personal tragedy and a very disgusting workplace. She is the manager of back office jobs in a financial services company that is aptly termed as the "toxic energy dump". Help comes from a most unexpected corner: Lonnie who sells fish in Seattle's most famous Pike Place fish market. He prescribes four simple principles that transform Mary, her workplace and the rest of her life.
a) Choose your attitude - You may not have a choice in what you are doing, but you are in full control of how to do it. Do it with a smile. b) Play - Do not forget this important element when you grow up in age. It is equally important to have fun while you work. c) Make their day - Make every interaction with the customer a great experience for them to remember d) Be present - Be fully present in interactions as if you are meeting a long lost friend.
Every human being is compared to a clock that needs to be wound and energized from time to time. This book is bound to do just that if you are in need of it.

The whole concept is as miraculous as it is simple. It calls us to be our best self, our true self. And even though God is not mentioned in the process, He is part of the process. In fact, He says in His Word "Beloved, more than anything else, I want you to prosper, as well as your heart and mind to open and grow." When the fish guys changed their attitude, they changed their jobs. When they started caring for others, they became better men. When they found the joy with themselves, they were able to help others find theirs. And let's never forget that Jesus went to the fishermen first to help spread the Good News. So let's all go out and FISH the world a better place.

When we think of elementary school, don't we think of fun? I really believe that the author of this book, wrote it in a simple fashion to signify how easy it really is to add a little fun to the workplace. Adding fun to the workplace helps us to forget about the actual work that we are doing and turns work into a fun place. According to the author, this will increase results. I happen to agree with the message that the author is trying to convey here. This book is definitely worth the read. This is not a book that will tax your mind as you are reading it and gaining valuable information.

I really enjoyed reading "Fish" A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale And Improve Results". "Fish" was a quick easy read, perfect for a cold
winter afternoon.

In the book "Fish" the authors tell us the story of the transformation of a department in a large company that at the beginning of the book is considered the "Toxic Dump" of the company. The book was simple yet profound, offering ideas that are easy to understand, and implement.

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 creating 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.

Since most of us spend a good portion of our lives at work, this book is must read.

Other books I also enjoyed about transformation are by award winning authors Ariel & Shya Kane Working on Yourself Doesn't Work: The 3 Simple Ideas That Will Instantaneously Transform Your Lifeand How to Create a Magical Relationship: The 3 Simple Ideas that Will Instantaneously Transform Your Love Life their books are excellent guides to live a fun fresh life full of opportunities, right here right now no need to wait for the future.

I had recently read, Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing What Matters, by Philip McGraw. A simular central theme as in Fish! Get more out of life with a better attitude.
Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Moral and Improve Results varies in that we are given a story. Mary Jane and her husband move from So Cal to Seattle. He to work for Microlucid and she for a finance company. He dies a year after they move. She is lost.
She is offered a promotion, which she normally would have declined, but the increase in income was too hard to pass up. The promotion meant managing a non productive non responsive division of the company. The "zombies" the group was known as.
Her charges arrived late, they did not answer the phones, some had been given computers more that two years earlier and had not even bothered to learn how to use them.
One day, while at Seattle's Public Market, she spots a fishmonger. These guys are part fish sellers and part football players. Fish flinger. When a customer orders a fish, the catch of the day is delivered via the forward pass. I've seen this for myself. How those guys catch those slippery critters is beyond me.
What Mary Jane does to turn her group of slugs around is what Fish! is all about. So I won't give away the plot. Fish! is an excellent book, a bit short on pages, but it packs a punch. I enjoyed it. Cammy Diaz-lawyer

FISH! is he story of a woman searching for a way to revitalize her workgroup and in the process save her job. The solution she finds comes from the unlikely place of the local fish market. By listening to the stories of one of the market's clerks our heroine is able to take back to her own problem four basic tenets for success. She meets her staff at the corporate "toxic waste dump" and is able to convert them to a person from a group of dispirited losers into the best team in the company.
The 112 pages of this book read very quickly and the ideas in the book are quicker still. They are basic and they certainly are sound ideas for motivating people. However, I think that the parable of Mary-Jane and her dysfunctional team was far too simplistic to stand up to real world application and that is a serious detriment to the book. Once the lead is converted she meets with her team who, after one negative comment, begin to embrace the ideas wholeheartedly. Where are the perpetual whiners ? Where are the "We have always done it this way" complaints. How about that perennial favorite "It isn't our fault" ? And best of all - The sullen non-complainers who will agree to anything to get the meeting over with but resist any real change ? I am not trying to be a spoil-sport here but these are serious obstacles to the kinds of change that this book tries to implement. I think that this book is either much too long to explain what the four ideas are (and they are good), or it is much too short to actually serve as any kind of an implementation tool.
It is also a poorly written story. Rather than as a parable of one woman's self discovery, I would much rather have seen it as a non-fiction management book with the story of Mary-Jane interjected as an example. As written it is not a good manual nor is it a helpful example.

Although there is no doubt that the principles of choosing your attitude, being present, and having fun will create a more enjoyable work environment and, therefore, more productivity, better relations with customers, etc., the failure of these concepts is that the book doesn't carry the thought to completion. Yes, we all like to have fun, we can agree on that. However, people's definition of fun differs. How do you get a large group of people to agree? What if your definition of fun conflicts with my definition of fun, and has an adverse effect? I can already hear the grumbling if the manager at my job required everybody to go to the fish market on their lunch hour, because it is so much fun. When the workers bring up the point that they already have plans for their lunch hour, and the manager tells them to cancel those plans, the issue has shifted from "let me show you something really fun" to "I'm the one who decides how you should spend your lunch." As a result, you have already alienated at least some of your people. The book gets three stars for the good intentions and the sound principles, but only three stars, because it's not very useful in the real world, unless you also delve deeper into people's definition of these principles.

The title sounds "FISHY" but the contents do deliver concrete information on making everyone's work day more pleasant, while gaining happier customers. There are only 112 fast-reading pages in this new book, but they provide a wealth of knowledge and things to think about. Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market provided the fundamentals for this book which can be used in any work environment and situation- office work as well as front-line work. You'll learn eye-opening fundamentals and common sense approaches to dealing with customers and staff actions and accountability, that produce not only happier customers, but happier staff members as well. Did I find any magic formula in this book to accomplish all of this? Not really. But there's a wealth of stuff to think about. The fundamentals presented are: Choose Your Attitude, Make Their Day, and Be There. The principles taught by this book are currently being used by organizations all over the world with great success being reported. The FISH pilosophy is relevant to nearly every issue facing business today: productivity, teamwork, quality improvement, customer service, creativity and innovation, employee turnover and job satisfaction. What else is there ? Simple lessons are presented, teaching managers how to energize staff and how to result in a completely improved workplace. The information is easy to learn and apply. The principles presented are a win-win for everyone from management, to staff, to customers. Well worth reading !!

A widow Mary Jane Ramirez was recently promoted to Head of a troubled department of her company located on the third level of their building. The department was in such a mess that it was simply referred to as "the energy dump."

Mary Jane's boss was also an SOB, who under performance pressure from the top, wanted her to turn things around at "the energy dump" - and quick. A single mom of two, lacking confidence in herself, and afraid of losing her job, one lunchtime Mary Jane absent-mindedly walked into "the world famous Pike Place Fish market" (p. 33) - an energetic place unlike her department. It was here where she met Lonnie, her subsequent coach. From Lonnie she learned the four ingredients of success: 1. Courage to choose, 2. Desire to play, 3. Make customers matter, 4. Being present.

With these ingredients, Mary Jane succeeded to turn around her department and in the end her entire company. For that she won the "Chairwoman's Award", and made many people very happy along the way.

A very inspirational little book. I read it two times in one day, and plan to re-read it again soon.

Amavilah, Author
Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
ISBN: 1600210465

ISBN: 1600210465
Quotable Arthur Schopenhauer
ISBN: 9781430324959

This light-hearted book is a must for every businessman or woman's library. The clear, concise narrative conveys business principles for improving company morale, productivity, customer relations and much more.

With the clever backdrop of a local fish market, Lundin, Paul, and Christensen carefully illustrate how observation and implementation are key to success.

This is a must-read for anyone looking to inspire his or her employees and expand his or her business. With the great tools in this book, the possibilities are endless! If you find yourself at a local fish market, and a fish is flying in the air, don't be alarmed; it's productivity in progress, lol. You'll have to read the book to get that one.

Yes, this is a nice, easy, cheerful read. The overall philosophy of the book makes sense--having a good attitude will help. My hesitancy with the book is that it is being used as a tool of upper management to criticize lower level employees without those in upper management actually taking responsibility for the problems that are most likely causing the bad attitudes in the first place. If you've ever worked for a horrible boss, having a good attitude will only get you so far. Not to mention the huge burden being placed on the employee to rally themselves every day to have a good attitude and provide excellent service and what have you while receiving little support from their leaders. It's all about leadership. If the leadership initiated this philosophy by first going to the employees and seeing what problems they had--the employees would most likely respond. It's all about leadership--leaders creating a good environment to work in and valuing the concerns and opinions of the employees will really make an institutional difference.

The book takes you into the world of a very deflated, uninspiring division and through a roller coster ride of a seasoned leader and her desire to inject higher moral and spark.

Its just ok. If you're looking for tips on how to lead a team sure this book can provide some help by believing that a positive atitiude is all you need but it falls short on describing what the leader is actually doing why it works. This is a great example of Emotional intelligence. Mary Jane used her own personal experience to create a personal connection with the team and from there she formulated her movements. With this knowledge you should pick up a book on Leading through Emotional intelligence.

My second point. The book paints a very unrealistic team culture and provides no story concerning how to treat employees that simply are not willing to invest into the new culture. Its not always fun and games.

Nice story, though.

I sat down last night and read "Fish!", a tale about improving productivity through making our workplaces fun. The Pikes Place Fish Market is now quite famous for their having a fun time and selling plenty of fish in the process. The authors of the book, Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen , share the amazing story of how they do it and posit that it can be replicated everywhere. The book is a fable of how a manager transformed her "toxic waste dump" of a department to the most exciting place to work at her company. She did it by following the advice of the fish mongers:

1. Choose your attitude,
2. Play,
3. Make their day and
4. Be Present.

The advice is good. I don't quite know how to apply it to my office, even after reading their story. There needs to be a few more ideas and perhaps even some setbacks to overcome. I have tried to adopt these axioms and have had some success. "Play" is important and has had some success in my teams. I haven't ever got it to the point of the Fish Market guys, though.

A whole market of business management fables has sprung up over the past twenty years. These books use the story to tell their, er, story. Books like "Who Moved My Cheese?", "The Present" and "Whale Done!" have graced the shelves and best seller lists. I suppose their attraction is the easy read that can be done in an hour or two. I find them to be sugar coated pablum. I dislike their contrived stories and easy to apply theories. Reality is different, much harder. I have never had as much success from these fables than the hardcore books like `Seven Habits" or "Getting Things Done". I need more in depth analysis and experience to interest me. I will probably continue to read books like "Fish!", but only for a quick hit, like a bowl of Sugar Smacks.

Ahh.. It's a great book. It's making me honestly consider going to Seatelle to see this place in action. I loved it.
What to say?
It's very light, as most of the other reviews have said - but it has solid and good evidence to back up what it proclaims. It is a remarkable way to boost morale - because it boosted mine without even doing anything but reading it. There is a little love story included too, which is not necessary, but it adds a nice touch I suppose.
I think it's a great book to give to those at your workplace, if you are not entirely happy with the enthusiasm that they have. This really should do the trick. There is also another book - Fish Tales, which gives more examples of companies who have used the Fish theory - which might help you out too.
It's broken down into 4 parts -
Choose your attitude
Who do you want to be when you work? The choice is yours...

Play
How can you have more fun and create more energy? THe choice is again yours...
Make their day
How can you engage your customers in a way that makes their day? The choice is yours...
Be present
What can you do about being present for co-workers and your customers? The choice is yours...
It's a light read - but it puts a nice smile on your face.
Happy Reading!

A good book for boosting any company or ororganization's morale, however the whole "golly gee" aspect gets really old after a while; The grand utopia idea that everyone buys into the concept is a bit much. (and it is better here than in some of the other management books I've read) How do you get the nay-sayers on board?-Is what I realy want to see from any management book. "Chosing your attitude" one of the main ingridents for high morale is one that is too often looked over by everyone whether in or outside any organization. If people really stoped and looked at theit attitude, things in this world would be very different. Playing at work? This goes againist a century old minset that I think is very hard for companies to change. Still all and all, this book offers some good ideas that are extremely timely in today's very tight job market.

In an era of 'right sizing', where the connection between performance and reward has been totally obliterated, and employees are run ragged and exploited through the use of fear of displacement, this book offers a collection of empty catch phrases for the quick fix, short attention span of corporate 'leaders'.
'Choose your attitude' really means choose THEIR attitude. It's a cop-out to whitewash any real attempt to confront the reasons why employees might feel that way. If the employee is cynical, bitter, or disgruntled, then why did management hire them in the first place? This has to come from the employees' experience.
If management would 'be present', and listen to their employees, they would find that what would 'make their day'
would be a meaningful job, where the employees were treeated fairly, listened to, and had the possibility of a career, and long term advancement, rather than being mired in a dead end McJob. Another fable, to be sure.
Any doubts about the sympathies of the authors' of this opus should be removed by a visit to the 'Fish Philosophy' web site. Other than an excuse to bilk more money out of gullible corporate suits on ancillary [stuff], it offers only more snake oil in new bottles.
Empty catch phrases and window dressing will never get to the root of the problem of low employee morale, and management's failure to grasp this just shows how out of touch and clueless they really are.

I had recently read, Life Strategies: Doing What Works, Doing What Matters, by Philip McGraw. A simular central theme as in Fish! Get more out of life with a better attitude.
Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Moral and Improve Results varies in that we are given a story. Mary Jane and her husband move from So Cal to Seattle. He to work for Microlucid and she for a finance company. He dies a year after they move. She is lost.
She is offered a promotion, which she normally would have declined, but the increase in income was too hard to pass up. The promotion meant managing a non productive non responsive division of the company. The "zombies" the group was known as.
Her charges arrived late, they did not answer the phones, some had been given computers more that two years earlier and had not even bothered to learn how to use them.
One day, while at Seattle's Public Market, she spots a fishmonger. These guys are part fish sellers and part football players. Fish flinger. When a customer orders a fish, the catch of the day is delivered via the forward pass. I've seen this for myself. How those guys catch those slippery critters is beyond me.
What Mary Jane does to turn her group of slugs around is what Fish! is all about. So I won't give away the plot. Fish! is an excellent book, a bit short on pages, but it packs a punch. I enjoyed it. Cammy Diaz-lawyer

FISH! is he story of a woman searching for a way to revitalize her workgroup and in the process save her job. The solution she finds comes from the unlikely place of the local fish market. By listening to the stories of one of the market's clerks our heroine is able to take back to her own problem four basic tenets for success. She meets her staff at the corporate "toxic waste dump" and is able to convert them to a person from a group of dispirited losers into the best team in the company.
The 112 pages of this book read very quickly and the ideas in the book are quicker still. They are basic and they certainly are sound ideas for motivating people. However, I think that the parable of Mary-Jane and her dysfunctional team was far too simplistic to stand up to real world application and that is a serious detriment to the book. Once the lead is converted she meets with her team who, after one negative comment, begin to embrace the ideas wholeheartedly. Where are the perpetual whiners ? Where are the "We have always done it this way" complaints. How about that perennial favorite "It isn't our fault" ? And best of all - The sullen non-complainers who will agree to anything to get the meeting over with but resist any real change ? I am not trying to be a spoil-sport here but these are serious obstacles to the kinds of change that this book tries to implement. I think that this book is either much too long to explain what the four ideas are (and they are good), or it is much too short to actually serve as any kind of an implementation tool.
It is also a poorly written story. Rather than as a parable of one woman's self discovery, I would much rather have seen it as a non-fiction management book with the story of Mary-Jane interjected as an example. As written it is not a good manual nor is it a helpful example.

Although there is no doubt that the principles of choosing your attitude, being present, and having fun will create a more enjoyable work environment and, therefore, more productivity, better relations with customers, etc., the failure of these concepts is that the book doesn't carry the thought to completion. Yes, we all like to have fun, we can agree on that. However, people's definition of fun differs. How do you get a large group of people to agree? What if your definition of fun conflicts with my definition of fun, and has an adverse effect? I can already hear the grumbling if the manager at my job required everybody to go to the fish market on their lunch hour, because it is so much fun. When the workers bring up the point that they already have plans for their lunch hour, and the manager tells them to cancel those plans, the issue has shifted from "let me show you something really fun" to "I'm the one who decides how you should spend your lunch." As a result, you have already alienated at least some of your people. The book gets three stars for the good intentions and the sound principles, but only three stars, because it's not very useful in the real world, unless you also delve deeper into people's definition of these principles.

The title sounds "FISHY" but the contents do deliver concrete information on making everyone's work day more pleasant, while gaining happier customers. There are only 112 fast-reading pages in this new book, but they provide a wealth of knowledge and things to think about. Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market provided the fundamentals for this book which can be used in any work environment and situation- office work as well as front-line work. You'll learn eye-opening fundamentals and common sense approaches to dealing with customers and staff actions and accountability, that produce not only happier customers, but happier staff members as well. Did I find any magic formula in this book to accomplish all of this? Not really. But there's a wealth of stuff to think about. The fundamentals presented are: Choose Your Attitude, Make Their Day, and Be There. The principles taught by this book are currently being used by organizations all over the world with great success being reported. The FISH pilosophy is relevant to nearly every issue facing business today: productivity, teamwork, quality improvement, customer service, creativity and innovation, employee turnover and job satisfaction. What else is there ? Simple lessons are presented, teaching managers how to energize staff and how to result in a completely improved workplace. The information is easy to learn and apply. The principles presented are a win-win for everyone from management, to staff, to customers. Well worth reading !!

A widow Mary Jane Ramirez was recently promoted to Head of a troubled department of her company located on the third level of their building. The department was in such a mess that it was simply referred to as "the energy dump."

Mary Jane's boss was also an SOB, who under performance pressure from the top, wanted her to turn things around at "the energy dump" - and quick. A single mom of two, lacking confidence in herself, and afraid of losing her job, one lunchtime Mary Jane absent-mindedly walked into "the world famous Pike Place Fish market" (p. 33) - an energetic place unlike her department. It was here where she met Lonnie, her subsequent coach. From Lonnie she learned the four ingredients of success: 1. Courage to choose, 2. Desire to play, 3. Make customers matter, 4. Being present.

With these ingredients, Mary Jane succeeded to turn around her department and in the end her entire company. For that she won the "Chairwoman's Award", and made many people very happy along the way.

A very inspirational little book. I read it two times in one day, and plan to re-read it again soon.

Amavilah, Author
Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
ISBN: 1600210465

ISBN: 1600210465
Quotable Arthur Schopenhauer
ISBN: 9781430324959

This light-hearted book is a must for every businessman or woman's library. The clear, concise narrative conveys business principles for improving company morale, productivity, customer relations and much more.

With the clever backdrop of a local fish market, Lundin, Paul, and Christensen carefully illustrate how observation and implementation are key to success.

This is a must-read for anyone looking to inspire his or her employees and expand his or her business. With the great tools in this book, the possibilities are endless! If you find yourself at a local fish market, and a fish is flying in the air, don't be alarmed; it's productivity in progress, lol. You'll have to read the book to get that one.

Yes, this is a nice, easy, cheerful read. The overall philosophy of the book makes sense--having a good attitude will help. My hesitancy with the book is that it is being used as a tool of upper management to criticize lower level employees without those in upper management actually taking responsibility for the problems that are most likely causing the bad attitudes in the first place. If you've ever worked for a horrible boss, having a good attitude will only get you so far. Not to mention the huge burden being placed on the employee to rally themselves every day to have a good attitude and provide excellent service and what have you while receiving little support from their leaders. It's all about leadership. If the leadership initiated this philosophy by first going to the employees and seeing what problems they had--the employees would most likely respond. It's all about leadership--leaders creating a good environment to work in and valuing the concerns and opinions of the employees will really make an institutional difference.

The book takes you into the world of a very deflated, uninspiring division and through a roller coster ride of a seasoned leader and her desire to inject higher moral and spark.

Its just ok. If you're looking for tips on how to lead a team sure this book can provide some help by believing that a positive atitiude is all you need but it falls short on describing what the leader is actually doing why it works. This is a great example of Emotional intelligence. Mary Jane used her own personal experience to create a personal connection with the team and from there she formulated her movements. With this knowledge you should pick up a book on Leading through Emotional intelligence.

My second point. The book paints a very unrealistic team culture and provides no story concerning how to treat employees that simply are not willing to invest into the new culture. Its not always fun and games.

Nice story, though.

I sat down last night and read "Fish!", a tale about improving productivity through making our workplaces fun. The Pikes Place Fish Market is now quite famous for their having a fun time and selling plenty of fish in the process. The authors of the book, Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul, and John Christensen , share the amazing story of how they do it and posit that it can be replicated everywhere. The book is a fable of how a manager transformed her "toxic waste dump" of a department to the most exciting place to work at her company. She did it by following the advice of the fish mongers:

1. Choose your attitude,
2. Play,
3. Make their day and
4. Be Present.

The advice is good. I don't quite know how to apply it to my office, even after reading their story. There needs to be a few more ideas and perhaps even some setbacks to overcome. I have tried to adopt these axioms and have had some success. "Play" is important and has had some success in my teams. I haven't ever got it to the point of the Fish Market guys, though.

A whole market of business management fables has sprung up over the past twenty years. These books use the story to tell their, er, story. Books like "Who Moved My Cheese?", "The Present" and "Whale Done!" have graced the shelves and best seller lists. I suppose their attraction is the easy read that can be done in an hour or two. I find them to be sugar coated pablum. I dislike their contrived stories and easy to apply theories. Reality is different, much harder. I have never had as much success from these fables than the hardcore books like `Seven Habits" or "Getting Things Done". I need more in depth analysis and experience to interest me. I will probably continue to read books like "Fish!", but only for a quick hit, like a bowl of Sugar Smacks.

Ahh.. It's a great book. It's making me honestly consider going to Seatelle to see this place in action. I loved it.
What to say?
It's very light, as most of the other reviews have said - but it has solid and good evidence to back up what it proclaims. It is a remarkable way to boost morale - because it boosted mine without even doing anything but reading it. There is a little love story included too, which is not necessary, but it adds a nice touch I suppose.
I think it's a great book to give to those at your workplace, if you are not entirely happy with the enthusiasm that they have. This really should do the trick. There is also another book - Fish Tales, which gives more examples of companies who have used the Fish theory - which might help you out too.
It's broken down into 4 parts -
Choose your attitude
Who do you want to be when you work? The choice is yours...

Play
How can you have more fun and create more energy? THe choice is again yours...
Make their day
How can you engage your customers in a way that makes their day? The choice is yours...
Be present
What can you do about being present for co-workers and your customers? The choice is yours...
It's a light read - but it puts a nice smile on your face.
Happy Reading!

A good book for boosting any company or ororganization's morale, however the whole "golly gee" aspect gets really old after a while; The grand utopia idea that everyone buys into the concept is a bit much. (and it is better here than in some of the other management books I've read) How do you get the nay-sayers on board?-Is what I realy want to see from any management book. "Chosing your attitude" one of the main ingridents for high morale is one that is too often looked over by everyone whether in or outside any organization. If people really stoped and looked at theit attitude, things in this world would be very different. Playing at work? This goes againist a century old minset that I think is very hard for companies to change. Still all and all, this book offers some good ideas that are extremely timely in today's very tight job market.

In an era of 'right sizing', where the connection between performance and reward has been totally obliterated, and employees are run ragged and exploited through the use of fear of displacement, this book offers a collection of empty catch phrases for the quick fix, short attention span of corporate 'leaders'.
'Choose your attitude' really means choose THEIR attitude. It's a cop-out to whitewash any real attempt to confront the reasons why employees might feel that way. If the employee is cynical, bitter, or disgruntled, then why did management hire them in the first place? This has to come from the employees' experience.
If management would 'be present', and listen to their employees, they would find that what would 'make their day'
would be a meaningful job, where the employees were treeated fairly, listened to, and had the possibility of a career, and long term advancement, rather than being mired in a dead end McJob. Another fable, to be sure.
Any doubts about the sympathies of the authors' of this opus should be removed by a visit to the 'Fish Philosophy' web site. Other than an excuse to bilk more money out of gullible corporate suits on ancillary [stuff], it offers only more snake oil in new bottles.
Empty catch phrases and window dressing will never get to the root of the problem of low employee morale, and management's failure to grasp this just shows how out of touch and clueless they really are.

I loved FISH! A REMARKABLE WAY TO BOOST MORALE AND IMPROVE
RESULTS Stephen C. Lundin, Harry Paul and John Christensen.
It only took me a little over an hour to finish it, but don't let that fact deter you from getting hold of this insightful parable . . . nor don't dismiss it as "still another one of those story efforts" . . . rather,I think you'll find yourself agreeing with me that this is one of the best business books on the market!
Based on a real business--Seattle's Pike Place Fish, a world famous enterprise that is widely successful--FISH! shows you how to love the work that you do, even if you can't always do the work that you love . . . also, it serves as a practical guide for getting others to buy into the attitude that improving customer service can actually be a fun thing to do.
All you need to do is accept these four simple principles:
CHOOSE to make today a great day.
PLAY. Be serious about your work without taking yourself
too seriously at work.
BE THERE. Don't let distractions destroy the quality which
is present in each moment.
And find someone who needs a helping hand, a word of
support or a good ear--and MAKE THEIR DAY.
I know the preceding might sound too basic, but it works--as
evidenced by all the companies telling me how that they've
implemented FISH! . . . and how it has helped change things
around . . . in fact, it has so inspired me that I've put Pike Place Fish as one of the places that I want to visit on some upcoming vacation . . . but until then, my goal is to see if I can help my college to hook into both the book and philosophy.

My wife works for a non profit company that is high and mighty on the "Feel Good" management style. Always looking for caring leadership team that is capable of motivating.

I work for a company where leaders are full of themselves and do not put the company needs ahead of theirs. Thus, this is a good book that helps you recognize competent leadership skills and how to implement change within any organization. The direction and suggestions are supported by example throughout the book.

If you want to learn new skills on how to increase employee satisfaction, this is a great book. We all deserve to be happy and feel appreciated with a job well done (don't be illusional, you still need to be competent yourself). Most of all, it will help you realize whether or not your current leaders can change and if you should be seeking another job.

I "chose my attitude" going into this book and gave it the benefit of the doubt. I find this book nauseatingly optimistic, unrealistic, highly improbable and basically a very good thing to read if you want to curb your appetite, because it is dripping with syrupy sweet goodness. I am only reading it for a class, and thank my lucky stars I don't have to read it at work. Please, writers of this type of material, STOP. Implying that employee attitude is at the root of workplace unhappiness is at best already widely known and at worst, insulting. All I could picture while reading this is the Unikitty from the Lego Movie:"Here in Cloud Cuckoo Land, there are no rules: There's no government, no baby sitters, no bedtimes, no frowny faces, no bushy mustaches, and no negativity of any kind."

Since we spend more than one-third of our lives at work, thinking about work, preparing for work, we might as well make work a fun thing to do. Besides, we will get the same paycheck regardless of whether we are enjoying it or not :) Some of us are not fortunate enough to have the option of leaving our job or changing our physical surroundings, however we could still learn to enjoy our current job and surroundings by changing our perceptions. It is as simple as that! The keyword here is "learn". I think it is definitely a learning process to see and cherish what we already have, enjoy the most out of it instead of longing or regretting for things that we don't have and complaining about the pithole that we are in. Don't worry, there is nothing scientific about how to improve your quality of life by changing your perception, this very inspiring little book Fish! will guide you to better enjoy your work. This book is narrating a story about how fish sellers are thoroughly enjoying their job selling fishes in the fish market and how their enthusiasm inspire those who are around them. Very entertaining!

There is a more substantial tale in this little book than in Who Moved My Cheese but it suffers from the same drawbacks.
As a sideshow in a management education course then this is really OK but as a serious contribution to improving management it does not pass muster.
Fish is a well written, cautionary tale of attitude at the workplace. It has a serious message and I am sure that it has some applicability.
Part of the reason that I am against these types of management parables is that by their very existance it shows that we as managers in business are failing in our duties to inculcate these attitudes in our staff. It says an awful lot about us that it requires such books to get the job done.
In a way, my attitude in writing this review is wrong. I do not have a particularly positive attitude about it. We all want a happy workplace and we, as managers, should use every tool in the manager's toolbox to achieve this. Some employees sneak through the net and are not happy, positive people and they reuire more attention than the others. In many areas though, the current structure of jobs mitigates having happy employees. When many people are having to work at two jobs just to make ends meet they may have a happy and positive disposition but they may also be having to work many long hours and look to work as only a source of income.
I found the message in this book to be a good one. It held my interest throughout. The author has a good writing style which holds the readers attention.
I encouraged others to read it. Despite it's brevity, they as managers, did not have the time. I passed the book on to no-managers. Few people read it. The ones that did had only a cursory recollection of the contents. The video worked better but it was talked through. Our asscoiates want instant gratification. They do not want to read, and most see no value in reading which most associate with school.
This book and it's ilk should tell us that we need to go back to the drawing board in training and developing managers. We do need to get this particular message over but we need to find a better way to do it.

The first principle we learn in Fish! is Choose Your Attitude. How appropriate, since what you get from this book completely depends on the attitude you choose when reading it.
The four principles of Choose Your Attitude, Play, Make Their Day, and Be Present are solid and have been proven at the real life Pike Place Fish in Seattle (the video is magnificent). No one can poke holes in the validity of these ideas. If you are looking to simply glean some excellent ways to help you love the work you do, then this book is for you.
However, it may be difficult to swallow the story that is used to illustrate these principles. If you approach this book with a skeptical eye, you may be disappointed. The fictional team in this story seems to come together and open their hearts to each other much too quickly and easily. For me, the corny factor dropped Fish! from five stars down to four.
My advice? Get this book anyway. Choose your attitude. Look beyond the corny facets to find and apply the valuable nuggets. They are there.
Larry Hehn, Author of Get the Prize: Nine Keys for a Life of Victory

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.

Mary Jane Ramirez has just been put in charge of Hell. That's how bad her new assignment seems, before she stumbles upon the inspiring management secrets of The Pike Place Fish Market. This effective little tale introduces readers to "Fish!" - the authors' prescription for boosting employee morale and productivity. The fish-tossing, joke-cracking camaraderie of the market serves as the workplace ideal in this book, which is easy to read but carries a lasting punch. We at getAbstract recommend this book to executives, change agents, managers, staff members, and students. Whether you are trapped in a bad working environment or trying to improve a mediocre one, this book will inspire you to get up and change your surroundings. Fish! will be one of the most influential books you read all year.

Since I have been going to school for a little over two years now on how to work with customer service, I already knew how to enjoy the work place. Also by already having several years in customer service has helped me a lot, however I really liked reading the book to get real life examples of what would happen with and without these customer service skills. This book may come in handy in the future if I get a job like Mary Jane had or one that I just simply did not enjoy. I think this book can help any business and even if people already like their job like me they should still read it to appreciate what they have or if they need it for future references. A lot of businesses need to learn that employees can be serious about their work but still make it enjoyable.

Can creativity and enthusiasm be learned from a smelly, fishmonger?
You bet! One of the most important values I learned from this book is that it's possible to gain wisdom from some of the most unsuspecting places. Never judge a book by its cover... you could be missing out on a lot!
One thing that I will never understand about society is how easily we get trapped into ruts in our professional and personal lives. Yet, we do nothing to rectify the situation. Complaining doesn't count, my friends!
With thousands of business "How-to" books flooding the market, Fish! is a welcome change as it tackles some very important issues in a fun and easily understood manner.
In this engrossing parable, a single mom/corporate manager is given a seemingly impossible task. She is responsible for turning an office that has been described as a toxic-energy dump into an enthusiastic and productive environment.
Overcome with fear of losing her job, the book's main character, Mary Jane, loses hope and retreats to her own private world every lunch hour as she walks the downtown Seattle streets. One afternoon she walks to the world-famous Pike Street Fish Market for the first time. Little did she know that when she met a smelly fishmonger named Lonnie, it would be the beginning of a wonderful new life!
If you are content to live with whatever life throws your way, this book is not for you. If you feel that you hold within your hands the power to change your destiny, this book is an effective tool that will help you on your path to success. Endorsed by some of the world's most successful businessmen, Fish! is a surprisingly important book you can't afford to miss.

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.

This is one of the all time worst books. I can't imagine getting anything lasting out of this overly simplistic piece of work. This is worse than the cheese book. The 4 main points of the story were hardly new and the actual "story" was was simply awful. I loved the way they introduced the husband on one page and then killed him off on the next page to give the main character an excuse to move to Seattle. That was deep. And what a great touch having her marry the fishmonger in the end-it darn near brought a tear to my eye!
I wish the powers that be in Corporate America would stop inflicting this SEE SPOT RUN nonsense on employees-it is insulting and hardly produces the desired effect. This may be the worst business book that I have read because I got nothing of real substance out of the book.

I'm staggered at the vacuity of a lot of these highly revered business , uh, books...
Just read FISH! today for the first time, and dang if I wasn't amazed at just how vacuous and [bad] this story was! We have Mary Jane, the manager who's conveniently enough lost her husband, who has been sent up to clean up a Toxic Waste Dump on the third floor, where all the transactions are processed for her bank. The work is staggeringly dull, and the people there are stuck in a rut. ...
Problem is, they have a bad attitude about doing this boring work ... since their ubermanager is a complete jerk, they are underpaid and underchallenged. You'd think that this would be an optimal time to maybe introduce a little challenge into their lives, or perhaps find some way of maybe treating them a little better. But that's not the going lesson in Management Theory nowadays.
Instead, you gotta teach them to play. ...
What's amazing to me is that this book could have been very interesting if the authors had decided to actually show real day-to-day events at Pike's Market, and then analyze what made the fish business so successful, profile real workers, and actually use a real situation to illustrate the FISH! principles. you get a story filled with stereotypes, silliness, and a ridiculous, unbelievable plotline, in which Mary Jane, the manager, marries the fishmonger with nary even a trace of romance to make even that small part of the story believable.

I read this book awhile back and I actually liked it enough to give it a decent rating. The book itself is closer to a 3.5 but you know there are no half star ratings allowed. I am normally not a big fan of parable type stories, but I liked this one because it encouraged managers to become ACTIVELY involved. This is the biggest problem that I have seen in corporate work enviironments - managers are seldom involved. They tend to delegate. They typically don't jump in and help. Regarding the "choose your attitude" approach, I think (from a managerial perspective) it is best to control it. As a manager, one should strive to mainatain as close to a postive attitude as possible. If they fall short of that, it is their responsibility to control it when things get bad. I am not the biggest fan of "playing" on the job. I have worked in a few organizations where a play day was instituted. I felt like this was re-living kindergarten, but most of my non managerial employees really seemed to enjoy it. Worth taking out of the library if you are a manager who is looking to motivate your team. Hey, when all else fails.. go fish!

This is one of THOSE books. I'm sure you know the kind I'm talking about: an over-simplification of corporate culture, the kind that will make you roll your eyes and think 'Oh no, what new catch phrase did my boss read and how much of my time is it going to waste?' Like many over-simplifications this book promotes solutions which can usually phrased 'To solve all our problems, all we have to do is...' In the case of this book the 4 endings to that phrase are 'choose our attitude', 'be present', 'make their day', and 'play'.
Unfortunately, these, like most other, over-simplifications lack any real substance to provide an effective solution to the complicated issues managers must face. I think the best results you can hope to gain from implementing the ideas in this book are a brief surge of enthusiasm followed by a collapse right back into the old ways. Moreover, don't be surprised if conditions actually worsen: trivializing people's problems is not a very effective way to insipire their confidence in your managerial abilities.
Maybe this analogy will help. One time I was really hungry and there was nothing to eat but candy. That first Snickers bar tasted really good, and since it wasn't really enough to satisfy my hunger I ate another, and another until finally I was full but felt sick because candy isn't really what I needed; nourishment is what I needed. And as I sat there feeling sick I started thinking that compared to this, feeling hungry really wasn't that bad. Expect the same kind of results from this book. It might briefly make you feel better, but what your employees really need is not to hear that they can 'choose their attitude' and 'play.' If you're a competent manager you can figure out what they really need to start functioning like a well-tuned machine. If you're not, you'll probably end up buying this book.

This recommendation is based on having read dozens of books in this genre and taking thorough notes.

Does your business need a positive boost?

Fish! A Remarkable Way To Boost Morale And Improve Results is a basic quick easy read with 4 simple implementable action items.

Work Made Fun Gets Done.

Read it.

Karleton Helfer

This is the best motivational book I have ever read. The authors tell a delightful story about a workplace no one would want to work in and how the workplace is transformed into a great place to work. Mary Jane the character in the book, responsibile for the transformation, discovers the ideas for the tranformation through a friend she meets at the Pike Place Fish Market. In her trips to the Fish Market she comes to understood why the Fish Market and its employees are so different.

The book made the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, sound so interesting that I actually visited it on a vacation. It is a fascinating place. The employees at the Fish Market are just as interesting as they sound in the book. If you do visit, beware the flying fish.

A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results is the subtitle of the book. So if you are getting bored at your job, this could be your book for next week. Book based on true story of Mary Jane Ramirez, who recently lost her husband and mother of two. She was assigned to the worst department of the firm called as "toxic energy dump". She was wondering herself about how to fix the problem during first few weeks. One day, she saw very happy people at the fish market. She started to ponder about situation, fish guys were doing a low wage and dead end job but they were very happy and performing great at the job. She impressed with what she saw at the fish market. Then she went in details about fish market. Owner of the fish store gave her the four magic things.

1) Play: Try to enjoy what you are doing at work like you are playing.

2) Choose your attitude: You can be happy or frustrated at work, it is your decision so get your happy face to work every day.

3) Make Their Day: Keep your customer or co-workers happy. Try to find small things that make the day their day.

4) Be present: Be at work every time. Seize the day and share with your friends.

When she applied these 4 magic rules to her department, things started to change in a positive way and everybody at the department felt better. Also, there is a very happy ending for her at the story.

In conclusion, it is a very easy to read book. You can finish it in 3 hours. There are many good and applicable information at the book. I suggest you read this book and try to apply your personnel life. Things will get better by the time.

I worked for a company a few years ago that issued this book to us, and had us watch the Fish video. It was in new hire class, so most of us were pretty stoked that we were with a company that had this philosophy. Of course, once training was over, and we were truly in the work environment, the only thing the company seemed to really take from this was the "be present" component. Sure, there was some phony, heavy handed, "fun" they tried to fool us with, mostly unhappy looking supervisors walking around handing out candy bars, and a toy chicken that would start singing when somebody would press a button, which was cute the first couple of times, but became grating after a couple hundred.

The fact was, this was the most dishonest, and yes, cruel, company I have ever worked for. You could say that is not the fault of the Fish book/video, and that is true, and that is my point. I give this two stars because I really do believe the people behind it had good intentions, but the sad fact is that these kind of things are used by companies as smoke and mirrors, to make it appear they are trying to create a pleasant work environment, without really doing it. Just forcing employees to watch a video about a fish market, and handing out a book about it is meaningless, creating a positive work experience takes effort, honesty, and most importantly, sincerity.

I'm the human resources manager of a small marketing and advertising firm, and let me tell you- days (literally days) after I began to implement Fish! philosophy, people started to come into work earlier, smile more, became more productive, and had a lot more fun!
At first, I thought that Fish! was just another dumb book on re-inventing the corporation, or some silly new-economy stuff. But it's more than that, and I'm really glad that I have it a chance. Not only has it done wonders for business, but it's changed my life very deeply.
I do have to give it a star down, because if I hadn't also seen the movie, I would have had trouble understanding it- and may also have just reacted the way a few other people who've posted reviews here have reacted. The book is far cheaper- the movie costs [a lot] to buy- so I assume some managers just bought a few copies of the book and gave them out to their employees expecting things to get fixed.
It may sound like common sense, yeah, but then why do you complain about the customer service every time you go to a large chain-store? Obviously, not as common as you'd like to think.
I'd say buy this book, and read it- but you also need to see the video, or even visit Pike Place Fish in Seattle. Maybe you'll see me there in an apron catching raw fish. Heh. I hope so.

If you expect a miracle solving all your people problems, save your money and your minutes. Lundin and his coauthours understand a few important pieces to "people problems." Further, they share those few pieces thoughtfully and entertainingly. A good manager could cover the same material just as solidly with a half-dozen slide presentation.
If you are serious about dealing with "people problems," pony up more cash for Buckingham's First, Break All the Rules and Now, Discover Your Strengths. You'll spend more money and invest more effort in the reading, but the payoff will more than compensate for the larger investment.

Mary Jane is given a tough assignment - bring life to the third floor of their business, which is currently known as a toxic energy dump. She gets inspiration from the famous Pike Fish Place, and a worker there named Lonnie.
Mary-Jane learns that you have to make the best of every situation. You choose your attitude - you can go to work each day thinking "Another boring day...I wish it were the weekend" or you can think "Who can I help today?" - it's your choice.
It's also important to play. Jokes are an important way of boosting morale.
I've never been a manager, and I'm only twenty years old, yet I already knew everything this book said. All it does is tell you things that are plain common sense. If you are a manager, the odds are that this book will not tell you anything new.
The positives are that the book is easy to read, easy to understand and very short. Recommend it to those employees with a negative attitude.

Work is not just about profits, shuffling paper and getting things done. Your attitude is your choice. Even fish mongers can become an inspiration to others.

This book is a business novel. Some of it is unrealistic- for example, they accept the criticism that they are given! I have never seen that. Generally, excuses are given and people try to weasel out of the feedback that is given. Change is not so easy to implement!

On the other hand, this is a fable, and the bottom line is this- happy workers are better workers.

It is interesting to read the positive reviews of this book vs. the negatives. It is more than just the usual like vs. dislike opinions. Who would you rather work with?

I like having fun and being entertained, and I really liked the ideas in this book. But marketed as a business book?
Let me set some boudries, first of all, to show you how important I think the material is. If this was Doctor Suess- like book, marketed and written with my kids in mind, I would be cool: five stars easlily. If it was marketed as a self-help book for reframing your attitude, it would get four, maybe five stars. If it were a hippy/ new-age book about just being and enjoying life, five stars plus.
However, as a business book, it is pure fluff.
I was forced to watch this in a corporate setting. Instead of fostering honest, human fun amongst our workforce, it seemed like an invitation for many on the management staff to work on trivial activities. Using Covey's "Seven Habits" and "First Things First" language, they were spending their time in Quadrant 4 of the time management matrix (unimportant, not urgent), instead of the stewardship that comes from Quadrant 2 (important,not urgent).
And employees were ignored while these managers "played," bringing in megaphones and making silly videos. If you want to find out about how to create good customer service, try "Customers for Life," "Raving Fans," or "Hug Your Customers." If you want to motivate your workforce, "The Streetwise Guide to Motivating and Rewarding Your Employees," or a reprint of the HBR article by Herzberg, "Once Again, How do You Motivate Your Employees?" is an excellent place to start.
This book, from my experience, will likely lead to the denial of serious issues, which are actually a blast to tackle in my experience.

Fish! Is a fun book, sort of like "Who moved my cheese" (1)

My experience in several Fortune 500 companies, both as an employee and as a consultant testifies to the fact that Fish! is more fact than fiction.

One fundamental difference is the book's realism. The book draws lessons from an unlikely source of inspiration, the fun-loving fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market.

In Fish! the heroine, Mary Jane Ramirez, having left sunny California to move to Seattle, and then suddenly widowed, is asked to engineer a turnaround of her company's troubled operations department, a group that the authors describe as a "toxic energy dump." Most reasonable heads would call it a day and move on. Why bother with this bunch of losers? Of course the authors don't make it so easy for Mary Jane. Instead, she's left to sort out this mess with the help of head fishmonger Lonnie. Fish! aims to help employees find their way to a fun and happy workplace.

While some may find the story line and prescriptions -- such as "Choose Your Attitude," "Make Their Day," and "Be Present" -- downright corny, others will find a good dose of worthwhile motivational management techniques. If you loved Who Moved My Cheese? then you'll find much to like here.

Shouldn't work be more than grudgingly toiling for 8, 9, 10 + hours a day? And, why shouldn't it be fun. It reminds me of a statement I once read (2) about money myths - "it's not right to enjoy yourself and get paid for it." Who made up this garbage? While reading Fish! is not a magic solution to productivity, it is a step in the right direction. My personal recommendation is for senior managers to read this book first, then ask associates to read with the understanding that senior managers will be open to discuss how to build a better, more productive, and fun workplace.

1) "Who Moved My Cheese", Spencer Johnson. Reviewed in August issue of Byvation.

2) "Money is My Friend", Phil Laut. pp. 4-5

-----

Michael Davis - Editor, Byvation

I saw my boss with some notes on her desk about Fish and grabbed a copy of it to read it.

The stories told throughout Fish help to weave a wonderful book into an even better message. I think it's safe to say that many of us (if not all of us) have experienced the toxic work environment at least once. Creativity and enthusiasm are directly related to the happiness of the workers in a workplace. The draw of inspiration from the fish market is excellent because I think a lot of times we think that a job that is not particularly attractive is not going to be the happiest place to work. Not only does Fish prove that thought process wrong but it is also shows that changing the environment of your office is quite simple.

Fish! should be required reading for every person who is in a position to motivate people. The neat thing is that by the end of the book you will realize that we are all in that position. Fish! presents its 4 principles in such a fun easy to understand way that you will want to smack yourself in the head and say, "I should have written this!" The ideas and concepts are extremely easy to grasp and the presentation of them is super. If you are looking for a book to help you get motivated at work or at home but don't want to get bogged down by heavy reading then Fish! is for you. I would recommend that any one in management or a supervisory position most definitely read it. In fact I plan to get a copy for each person on my staff.

I honestly think that this work is a satire on the American workplace. It describes a Fish Market and how the lessons learned there apply to corporate America. Having implemented this program at my company, I know first hand that the solutions dreamed up by employers and employees alike have little effect on the company. The book's title has become a code word for meaningless programs through out the company.
If you want to wallow in the current state of employment, go read Dilbert. If you want to change your company look elsewhere. If you want to have a good laugh you might buy this book.

While this book contains no earth-shaking truths, taking an hour or so to read it can give you a fresh perspective. And isn't that what we so often need in our hectic lives?
The book has four recommendations that can help keep that fresh perspective alive during the work days. It's a relaxing read. Because you will come away with at most four short points that you may record as a reminder for yourself, I recommend checking this one out from your local library. I'm glad I read it; I'm also glad I didn't buy it. It's not a book that you would go back to again and again.

I happen to already have a job I love. And it's not because my company implemented a frou-frou plan to "choose your attitude" (i.e., cover up the signals your brain is giving you that things are not as you'd like them to be). It's because we respect each other's ideas, we're given the autonomy to feel like we can actually make an impact, and we're treated like we matter. Those are things that come from the top down.

Forcing employees to read this book gives upper management a scapegoat: it's not me, it's you. Fish! presupposes that the corporate workforce is unhappy for no good reason. As a satire, it would actually be passable; as another turd on the pile of motivational, self-help drivel, it's an absurd, insulting farce.

When my supervisor handed me this book and asked me to read it I rolled my eyes. When I started to read it--oh boy, they rolled even more. But you have to take these parable books with a grain of salt. Is there anything so bad about asking people to "Choose Their Attitude" or "Be Present" for the customers? No, of course not. And what's wrong with trying to keep the mood a little light at work--nothing bad there. We've used some of the ideas in this book, and tossed the few back in (no one is going to be asked to bake cookies and I'd probably get thrown a few cans of tuna if I set up a "sandbox" area). Perhaps the most helpful concept has been the idea of treating your co-workers as "customers", it certainly makes you think twice about what you say and helps you to treat each other with the same respect you would an actual customer or client.
Overall I'd say taking what I'd consider useful out of this book has worked to change the attitude and performance of my staff.

Put as simply as possible, FISH is a fun book. Because it offers a new perspective for finding enjoyment at work, I highly recommend it. Share it with the people you work with and you'll find it will add a pleasant new dimension to your work environment. But it's possible to add even more. I followed the advice of an earlier reviewer who recommended buying WINNING WAYS: FOUR SECRETS FOR GETTING GREAT RESULTS BY WORKING WELL WITH PEOPLE, by Dick Lyles. I'm glad I did. By giving Lyles' book to our team along with FISH, we have created a truly dramatic transformation in everyone's attitude toward work and toward each other. FISH shows how to have good healthy fun, and WINNING WAYS shows how to maintain respectful, yet effective work relationships. It's impossible to stress too much how powerful this combination has been in improving attitudes, relationships, and perhaps most important - the overall performance and satisfaction of everyone. No matter what your job or where you fit in the organization, FISH and WINNING WAYS will help you find more fun and satisfaction and will enhance your personal effectiveness in dealing with others.

I know Seattle. I lived on the Olympic Peninsula most of my life and have been to Pike's Place market and seen the fish-throwers many times. The dialogue in the book doesn't depict the way people truly speak. The whole thing sounds like an infomercial (i.e. "How can I get excited about work again and reinvent my job so I don't think of it as a toxic energy dump?" "Well, Bob, let me show you how in 5 easy steps . . . ").
I found the book much too commercial for my standards, especially when the point of the book is to break out of the norm and try a non-traditional tactic in the workplace.

I'm continually amazed at the number of people making money by turning a couple of life's simple truisms into a "motivational" book. How did I miss out on that boat? Fish is no different.

To illustrate how simple the concepts are, the authors are able to set the story up, explain their four messages, and end the book with a success story (accent on "story") in 107 small pages - and the content doesn't actually begin until page 15.

I understand that length is not necessarily an indicator of value. Sometimes the simplest or shortest message can be the most powerful. However, Fish bundles four short, lame, mediocre messages, and tells us that they are something "remarkable". Hog wash. All bun and no meat.

Were the authors to provide some direction on how to incorporate these messages into the workplace, the book might have had some value. What little guidance they do provide, leads you to believe that telling your colleagues that you can "choose your attitude" and by encouraging them to "play" at work, all professional and interpersonal problems will go away. Yeah, sure. And if we all get together and hold hands there will be peace in the Middle East.

As stand alone items, the messages have the impact of the inspirational messages found on desktop calendars. And unfortunately, the lack of substance otherwise leaves these weak messages hanging in the wind.

Don't waste your money on this new-agey gruel. Do some research on the store and find a book that offers something of substance and value. There are too many motivational books out there that have real meaning, and are meaningful, to spend time on this book.

A turd polished is still a turd.

The book explains in a story telling manner as to how one can make life at work more interesting and fun. The authors have kept the language extremely simple. I have seen a lot of individuals in office who just dont care anymore and hate every minute of their life at work. Not only do they harm their career in this manner but they affect the moods of more enthusiastic people. I wish they read this book and learned its philosophy. It would make everyones life better.
Dont expect that reading the book will do wonders for your life though. Try to put in practice what the book preaches and you will be a happier individual.
Another good book to read is Don't Sweat the Small Stuff at work by Richard Carlson.

After reading the book "Fish!", all I could think of was the fact that people would either love or hate this "engrossing parable" that stars Mary Jane as the manager who turned the toxic-energy dump of the 3rd floor into be a productive and pleasant place with the help of Lonnie, who works in the work-renowned Pike Place Fish market. And the latter group of people who will hate this book will be the hardened skeptics, the `been-there-done-that' workers who have been around for years. People who already have their minds set that nothing is that easy, thank you. In short, real world people.
I appreciated how the book was approached as a short and sweet parable, and how the four key principles were presented in a light, simplistic way. However, Mary Jane's world of suddenly complacent employees and suddenly helpful boss seemed light years away from the unyielding people we usually have in the workplace we call the real world. The skeptic in me refuses to believe that everything is just this easy and everyone is just as willing to change their views. In the child care center where I work, we could hardly get the owner to dole out money for an emergency substitute teacher. I could just imagine the heart attack he'd get if we asked for a budget of $200 to be spent at our own discretion to work on a group-motivating project, and sad to say, I could easily imagine most of today's bosses with that attitude as opposed to the SOB-turned-softy Bill that was Mary Jane's boss.
Another thought that entered my head is how the book left everything to vague. Choose your attitude. Play. Make your customers' day. Be present. Ok, now how do we do that (in a real world sense, that is)? And what if your definition of play conflicts with my definition of play, and has an adverse effect? The book was very helpful to me in a sense that it reinforced these self-help concepts in my head, but it may have helped better if it took that into consideration and told us how to deal with differences of opinions.
I'm not saying I didn't like the book. It gave me, at the least, something to read and ponder about while waiting for the 28 bus. At the most, it inspired me that turning an ordinary child care center around into a wonderful, thriving place for kids and parents takes nothing more than choosing to have a healthy attitude and playing. Then the bus pulls over with a squeal of brakes, and I remember my director's name is not Mary Jane and the only fish place close to us only offers whiting sandwiches, not inspiration. Sighing, I board the bus.

I was thinking that there would not be another book that insults the intelligence of the reader like the "Cheese" book did. Well, here comes this "Fish" book and compared to this, the "Cheese" book deserves the Nobel for literature.
Do the authors really feel that by writing generic sentences like
1. Choose your attitude.
2. Play; have fun.
3. Make their day; engage your customers.
4. Be present
the situation can be improved and a "toxic dump" (the authors's words) can be turned into a place where others want to work in. Funnily ( it took 3 people to write this book!!!) the book doesnt give how these catchwords were brought into action ( except for some powerpoint bullet points).
Better read actual business books like "Built to last" or "Good to Great" to understand how organizations and individuals work. And if you want to read a simplistic self improvement book stick to "7 habits" or "5th Discipline".
The book "The 48 Laws of Power" has a law (Play on People's Need to Believe to Create a Cultlike Following). People have an overwhelming desire to believe in something. Become the focal point of such desire by offering them a cause, a new faith to follow. Keep your words vague but full of promise; emphasize enthusiasm over rationality and clear thinking. Something like this is going on here.

This Fish stinks.

I have met Jim Bergquist and been to his seminars and almost quit my job because if it. He preys on anyone who seems vulnerable so he can say they had a "breakthrough". This is no different than bringing in a church leader and breaking people down and calling it revival. I don't understand how this and others like it (landmark Education) has become acceptable in the workplace. I think it is a money making machine and they prey on the gullible. In his seminars they never pick on the bosses who are paying instead they stroke their ego. I would recommend anyone forced to go to these seminars to question why and not be afraid to walk out.

I also agree 100% with the post copied below another person left.

"As to the first, I do not believe that a company can motive or change a person. That is the business of missionaries, evangelist and philosophers. Business has no business in shaping the beliefs and ideas of the employees. These motivational programs all have silent value-statements, and to propagate these is a a form of intellectual evangelism. In short, you manager is a missionary for the gospel of corporate success. Unless you specially work for a church, or a philosophy-specific organization, such as the Freemasons or a political party, this smacks of violating conscience. "

The heart of Fish! is in the right place, but the execution is abysmal. Simplistic to the point of being condescending, much of the Fish! message is spelled out in a Dick and Jane sort of way. If you can get past the tone of the book, it's got a good theory behind it. However, for those of us who are cynical by nature, be forewarned -- the Fish! philosophy relies heavily on being a shiny, happy person. If you're like me and the thought of smiling, happy faces 24/7 brings out your inner postal worker, you might want to skip this one and go straight for Who Moved My Cheese?

Rating: C-

What irritates me about this book is the idea that an employee's attitude is the problem. The premise seems to be: Hate your job? It's your attitude!

There is no allowance made for the fact that perhaps there is a REASON that people might hate their job.

Perhaps they are made to follow rules that don't make sense. Perhaps they see what they need to accomplish, but lack the training or resources to get it done. Perhaps the office environment is old, crumbling, the bathrooms don't work, and the printer keeps jamming.

In other words, if employees are unhappy, then you need to find out WHY they are unhappy and FIX it.

Don't just tell them to change their attitude. Sure that might be the case with a few hardcore cynical people. But most of us WANT to do a good job. We only get cynical when we are prevented from doing so.

So look for tangible obstacles to your employees work, and remove them.

The attitude will take care of itself.

And, for the love of god and all that's holy, don't give them this stupid book.

This is a fictional work. The people in it aren't real. Essentially, the author makes up a story to prove how well his management principles work. Of course they're going to work - he's writing the story. There is no empirical evidence from real companies applying these concepts to real people. And seriously, have you ever worked in a real corporate environment that actually encourages you to have fun? You'll be written up quicker than you can read this piece of fictional garbage. These types of books are written for corporate management types who are far removed from the people who work for them. You want to motivate employees - spend time with them, show them you value them as people and reward them accordingly. Find me a manager who does that instead of someone who sits up in his ivory tower, and wastes his time reading some ridiculous BS like FISH or Who Moved My Cheese. The bottom line is - anyone can make up a story. Just because you put it on paper and can sucker corporate American into buying it, doesn't make it true. I could write a story that says I'm a superhero but the reality is, if I jump off a building, I'm still going to die. But at least that would make a better story than FISH.

If you have never heard of the FISH! philosophy, I recommend that you start with this one first. It explains the history behind how the FISH! philosophy first got started. Mary Jane Ramirez who was a recent widow with two young children stumbled into the Pike Place Fish market to find out that the fish market held the secret to her sucess as a new manager. Mary Jane was just promoted to manage a difficult department nicknamed the toxic energy dump. She observed the high energy team building and positive attitudes that she saw at the fish market on her lunch breaks. As she got to know the fishmongers and heard their stories, she knew that she could apply the same principles to the business world. One day she brought her department to the fish market and soon transformed the toxic energy dump around!

FISH! does what so many corporate motivation books fail to do; it fosters success. It's an easy read, it's concise, and its strategies are user-friendly and can easily be implemented personally, professionally and most importantly, corporately. I have read a fair share of group dynamic books for my involvement in local government, education and church leadership. FISH! exceeds all the others far and away. The basics of the book include four steps, which are manageable and make a difference when implemented. Read FISH! for yourself, with your family or for your organization. It works.

A wonderful book that simplifies the steps to have the right atmosphere in any environment.
Mary Jane has been given the difficult task of turning around the 3rd floor inefficiency to be a productive and pleasant place to work. In helping her in the task she meets Lonnie, who works in the fish market, and who makes her see how he managed to bring the best out of his employees even though they work in a stinky place.
The four lessons learned to achieve such results are: Attitude, Play, Make their day, and Be present. Those simple words and how to carry them between the employees and be able to transmit them to the customers should be enough to turn the life around.
A great book, that also helps with our daily lives and how to approach life on daily basis, make the best of things, give it your best shot and the rest is history.

The principles in here are good, for sure. But they're presented in a story that is poorly told (like it's written for 2nd-graders) and short on practical advice. Everything goes as planned for the protagonist as she applies the Fish Principles at her job, all of her formerly glum and lazy employees embrace the principles with a minimum of grumbling, and hey - there's even a pointless love story tacked on.

I'm not wild about the use of business parables (One Minute Manager type books), but this one works pretty well. However, the message is really the point. It not only addresses engaging workers to perform better, but it addresses what superior customer service is all about, too. Read the book, but invest in the CharterHouse video. Seeing the Pike Place Fish Market guys do their thing is pretty spectacular. They aren't called "World-Famous" for nothing. They worked for it and they earned it!

Truly, I didn't want this book to end. I read it very slowly, knowing that it is such a quick read, but it is so enjoyable.
I am astonished at the couple of terrible reviews (along with the powerful ones) this book received. I work in a needed turnaround place, and this book really speaks to us. Ironically, the people who know how to turn a company around are the ones who "get" this book. We have all worked in lots of places who would "pooh-pooh" it. These are the people who need it the most. Perhaps this is preaching to the converted.
The core of the book is how to bring joy to what you do, and how this affects everyone else. It works!

I like this book. It is a quick read. Finished it and QBQ on one flight with a meal. If you read "THE GOAL", the format of this book will be similar. The author presents the material in the form of a novel. I suspect timelines and other issues are accelerated in the story line, poetic license, btu the illustration of the key points are good.
If you are looking to put fun into your work, and create a high energy, lively, customer focused work environment, this is a good book to remind you of the basics.

Many years ago, when I was on my way to see the movie Top Gun, a friend of mind commented, "Goose gets killed." Although I had no idea what he was talking about, as soon as Anthony Edwards appeared on the screen, I knew he was toast. Analogously, if you don't want me to ruin the book Fish! for you, please stop reading now.
"When we choose to love the work we do, we can catch our limit of happiness, meaning, and fulfillment every day," is the message of Fish! It is a parable of a capable executive, Mary Jane, who is called upon to revive the apathetic, Third Floor Operations Group for the fictitious First Guarantee Financial Company in Seattle.
One day, while walking and ruminating about her work problems, she finds herself at the famous Pike Place Fish Market where employees perform for gathering crowds while selling fish. The energy of the market is exciting and contagious. One of the market employees, Lonnie, engages Mary Jane in a conversation, and subsequently becomes her mentor in transforming the Third Floor Operations Group.
The lessons Lonnie teaches Mary Jane are:
1. Choose your attitude, even if you can't choose your work.
2. Play; have fun.
3. Make their day; engage your customers.
4. Be present; pay attention to your employees and coworkers.
The book is immensely popular, ranked 45 in sales on the store's list. There are few books like it that explain how to inject fun and enthusiasm into the work place. Some companies are handing copies out to employees in an effort to provide inspiration for improving corporate culture.

I can't help wondering how three authors wrote a book that's only 107 pages. It's a light read: crack it open while you're on line at LaGuardia and you'll be smiling to yourself on the last page before the seat belt sign goes off.

I was given this book by the company I work part-time for. They decided to use this Fish story and other material to make our work place a better place to work. I personally don't think the company pulled it off very well since most people didn't read the book or take part of any activities that they created for us.
I picked this book up one eveing just to see what it was about. I ended up reading about 30 pages before I knew it it. Later on I picked it up again and was through another 30 pages, but had to go to sleep. I couldn't sleep because I had to know what happend. The book is predictable, but very interesting. There are very few stories that I have to keep reading since I have to know the ending. I think this is a good read for anyone interested in motivating people and to create a great work place. I am thinking about reading it again.

Hold on to your seats. Here comes yet another quirky, poorly written fantasy story about how a fishmonger who helps a businesswoman to solve the poor productivity and low morale problems in her customer service department. Good ole Lonnie is so successful, in fact, that he becomes engaged to our heroine in the final act. (No, I'm not making this up)

While FISH offers an introspective look at why employees respond the way they do, it offers little if anything on how to bring the poor performing unit through a real rebirth. As Dr. Phil would say, this book lacks "verbs in its sentences" when it comes to designing a plan of action.

This book, like HIGH FIVE and many others, is simply another way for the authors to cash in on a new twist of a very old philosophy.

The message of this book is a good one. It essentially boils down to "Have a positive attitude." However, this book uses a lame nerdy parable to communicate this message, and it's embarrassing. I agree that it is a productive thing to have a good attitude and that a good attitude is contagious, but the book asks you to be a big phony and do lame grade school type of activities with your staff. I don't know about you, but I can't stand being treated like a 2-year-old when I'm at work, and the reality is that you have to be fake in order for everyone to "jsut get along." Most employees have a bad attitude because so many companies are badly run with poor management. Reading books like this is just putting a bandaid on a broken leg.

This book, is great, it gives you another vision to your boring, work, life, or anything, the story in the book is great however consider this:
Altough the book says; that you must find in your mind a way to use this methodology at any kind of work or situation, I dont find it that easy, as in the case of the book that they mention that they improved their work enviroment however they dont said how they did that.
Im a Industrial engineer and honestly the book is great but I dindt liked that they do not explained how they improved the story told in the book.

This is the best motivational book I have ever read. The authors tell a delightful story about a workplace no one would want to work in and how the workplace is transformed into a great place to work. Mary Jane the character in the book, responsibile for the transformation, discovers the ideas for the tranformation through a friend she meets at the Pike Place Fish Market. In her trips to the Fish Market she comes to understood why the Fish Market and its employees are so different.

The book made the Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, sound so interesting that I actually visited it on a vacation. It is a fascinating place. The employees at the Fish Market are just as interesting as they sound in the book. If you do visit, beware the flying fish.

Any time you discuss workplace motivations techniques, you are talking about two things. The first-and most important-is whether or not motivational programs IN GENERAL are effective. The second is whether this specific program IN PARTICULAR is effective.

As to the first, I do not believe that a company can motive or change a person. That is the business of missionaries, evangelist and philosophers. Business has no business in shaping the beliefs and ideas of the employees. These motivational programs all have silent value-statements, and to propagate these is a a form of intellectual evangelism. In short, you manager is a missionary for the gospel of corporate success. Unless you specially work for a church, or a philosophy-specific organization, such as the Freemasons or a political party, this smacks of violating conscience.

A few years ago, "USA Today" did a study of employee motivational programs, and they discovered that they do not work. People have free conscience and free will, which includes the freedom to be bad employees. I am not endorsing this attitude, but people must be freed to be devils as well as gods to be a just society.

As to the specific FISH! Program, I thing the first question answers the second. I do not thing programs in general are effective, and I do not think the specific FISH program will be effective. Like most people, I was exposed to this philosophy via work. So it wasn't my personal choice to take the initiative. I can only react, or choose to accept this.

I do believe the program is sound. In saying that all programs are equally ineffective, I am also saying programs are also equally effective. At my company right now, I have three different motivational programs (Destination Ten, Team Vitality, and FISH!), and the funny thing is that they are all pretty much the same thing.

This isn't surprising, since a motivational program is essentially an ethical value-statement, and all ethical systems are pretty much the same. C. S. Lewis said that "Really good moral teachers never do introduce new moralities: it is the crack and cranks who do that." (Mere Christianity). Lewis traces the similarities of ethical systems in "Abolition of Man," especially the appendix.

The FISH system is based on some ideas from the Pike Place Fish market. Essentially, it a group of guys horsing around at work. They chuck fish around, shout, and make fun of the gawkers. It sounds like fun, and it is. The authors distill the fish-chuckers attitude into a fourfold system:

* Play

* Make their day

* Choose your attitude

* Be There

This is a good system, if you actually believe it, and want to live it. My religion, which dominates everything I do, has room for these principles. I have no problem living these since I already am. The problem, however, is convincing people who do not believe these things to subscribe to them.

In other words, human free will and freedom of conscious get in the way of this program.

Another problem is that the fish-chuckers had an attitude PRIOR to the system. It was something that sprang out of who they were, and it was not something that was imposed top-down.

If you saw the video, then you remember that the shouting began with a joke on their boss. How many of your bosses would let that happen? Or would they see it as insubordination and a challenge to their authority?

Fun, and frivolity is an essential part of work, since fun an frivolity is an essential part of life. We need opposition and contrast in all things to have sense and life. However, fun is always in contradistinction to the serious work that must be going on for work to be done. If our serious work is to have fun, then you are in for trouble. You are trying to mix humor and seriousness in a way that violates this Law of Opposition. Aristotle (quoting Anaxagoras) said that if we combine two opposites, we would arrive at a metaphysical mélange where nothing really exists, and humans become vegetables (Metaphysics, Book IV)

Fun lubricates, but it cannot be a primary mission. Fun, as Covey points out, is a Quadrant IV activity, not a Quadrant II.. Besides, if your bosses were serious about fun, then they would let you stay at home an zone out in front of HALO 2 for seven or eight hours, which is far more fun than dealing is sourpuss customers.

I do not think that this book can be used a la B. F. Skinner and "Walden Two," or as a substitute for the really work. You cannot change a heart-only the individual can do that-you can only persuade.

The cover is the only good part of this book. My husband picked this up at a bookstore in the airport a few weeks ago. I took one look at it, read the back cover and proceeded to give a dead-on accurate prediction: Since this is a story out of Seattle (the liberal "happy-touchy-feely" capital of the world), you should let your employees feeeeeel good, don't make them actually stretch and work hard, above all you should rub people's positive ego area and appeal to their inner child. I then took the next 28 minutes to read this fluff garbage and have never been so psychic in all my life! Everything I predicted was there. But my powers of ESP did not predict the STUPID "love story" ending...I was ROLLLLLLLLING my eyes.
Don't waste your time or money. These "feel good" management books are just quick money makers for the authors and nothing more. No wonder we are such whiners and underproducers in America. Instead of hard work, we look for ways to get out of exerting too much effort actually doing our job.

During twenty-three years of management in several organizations, I faced the same problems Mary Jane confronted. Sometimes I patched them temporarily, yet I can't claim that I ever solved them. Had this book been available to read and then discuss during staff retreats, I am confident that participants would have expressed their feelings more openly--and constructively--than they did under my leadership. I applaud what this book accomplishes with its homespun style.

Fish is a wonderful & inspiring book. You will be able to apply the suggestions no matter where you work. This is a must read for anyone who works with other people or customers. My only complaint...the last page... Come on, that cheapened the storyline!

I read this book after viewing the DVD on the same subject. I think this is a very practical book for organizations or business who have a young team that is still trying to figure its self out. Granted this is rocket science methodology, but it's a truth.

I think if you are going to use this system it is worth viewing the DVD. It gives a good back ground for all those of us that have not made it up to the great northwest (the book is based off the famous pike fish market in Seattle)

The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 was because it really does not get very deep in its theories. But like I said if you are dealing with a young team or a team in disarray is probably a good thing.

This is a wonderful book. I feel sorry for those who find it mundance and making them more cynical. The four basic concepts presented in this book are often forgotten in the professional world, and I feel if they were implemented and supported by senior management teams you would see a change in many professions. First of all I think in order to change you have to want to change. If you want to change then you will be open for ideas to flow to you to bring the change about that you are looking for. This book opens the mind and the heart and allows the planting of a seed for change.
As in any organization there will be those who are skeptical and I believe those are the ones we need to tap into their ideas and ask them what they would do to make the change. I do believe that life is a series of choices and we choose each and every day what kind of day we are going to have. We choose how we react to each and every situation which this books help us realize.
The point in the book is personal accountability. What happens to us is up to us. Negative beliefs keep us from living in excellence. Go FISH! Philosophy. I would recommend you see the videos too.

Is anyone else getting tired of this style of books? With three or four ideas wrapped into a cute but not particularly well-written story, I found myself skipping through the book and looking for the main ideas in larger print (the main ideas are almost always in larger print in this writing style). The principles are great, but why write a trite book to illustrate them? There's not much here to make you think, and it is a shame that there are so many of these books on the market that are vying for your time and money. If you are required to read this book, borrow it from someone else for a half hour, or better yet, read it while you stand in their office.

I suppose if you are looking for a reason to do "something" in your organization, this will do. If you are looking for real change with real results and hope to find a way to accomplish that using this "method" - you'll be sadly disappointed.
Unfortunately, books like these (and this one does) typically spawn an entire industry of bad "science", and all too eager buyers.

From the subtitle you know you are in for a boosting trip. If you've ever been to the markets in Seatle you would enjoy it even better.

How a Fish market can help you find more joy in your work is fascinating. Easy to read, with clear suggestions, the book will help when facing a dark somber environment at work. After all, we are not our circumstances but our attitude.

As a former single mum, there were some things that did not click with me and that is why I did not give it a 5.

It is definitely worth the read from a business perspective, and will leave you smiling every single page.

FISH! should be required reading for anyone who has a business, works in a business, wants to start a business -- or anyone at all who wants fun, practical, easy-to-implement ways to make joy a part of their day to day life. It's a short, sweet yet meaningful tale that reads as smooth as banana pudding! You'll most certainly want to pick it up again and re-read it every few months or so just to be reminded that any workplace or living space can be transformed into a happy and fulfilling haven that inspires everyone to be their most creative, productive and vital. The tale of FISH! illustrates how making the choice to bring genuine joy to our work and day-to-day life can bring about the freedom which enables us to face each day head-on with a sense of humor (instead of choosing to spend each precious family dinnertime boring and burdening those at the table with the same office horror stories night after night, month after month-- year after year! ...) Any business that wants success, longevity, and truly happy, productive employees should without a doubt jump right into the wisdom of this book and Go FISH!

FISH! is a story about a manager who is tasked with a new position in the company, which initially seems to be unsurmountable. Rising to the occasion, and learning to lead by example, she guides her staff toward a new direction. Being born and raised in the Northwest, buying fish at Pike's Place and growing up as the daughter of a commercial fisherman, made this book more near and dear to my heart than I imagined. Now, as a business owner responsible for a state-wide sales team in California, with 28 offices, I am thrilled with the prospect of sharing FISH! with my team. I know by reading FISH! it will aide them in their approach to good business and serve as a value added tool for customer relations.
Everyone, whether new or experienced in business, will benefit from reading about the common sense approach as communicated in FISH!
Coast to coast, salmon or shark, this is a great book and a must for any business team.

What does a "Toxic Energy Dump" and throwing fish have to do with life, especially performance in the workplace? A great deal according to the authors of The Fish.
In this parable you learn very quickly and easily how to turn around a "toxic" environment. Although the solutions may sound simple and obvious, they remind us - that regardless of our position in an organization, it's a great thing to find enjoyment and satisfaction in our ordinary day-to-day work lives. The writers provide simple descriptions of what attitude and fun can do to turn around the "toxic energy dump" in the workplace. The fable and principles show you how to bring hope and excitement to the people who perform the "back room" functions.
This book is a quick read, with principles that are easy to grasp and apply. Laughter and fun are great bridge builders between people - I encourage you to try The Fish and see how these principles are used to build bridges not only at a renowned fish market in Seattle, but between people within a back room department and other departments.

This book you can read it in one night, is easy to read and has a very good message, the part of the book that could be a fable is that everybody in the office will do everything to change and work better, when they are used to do absolutely nothing for the customers, could be that possible?
I thing we can try to do what is written in the book and change at work for our own good

I like the concepts, though I found the story to be a bit lacking. We've instituted these practices at work and I've got to say that I'm enjoying it. Having fun at work is HUGELY important and this book teaches to that concept.

I was first unsure, then inspired by the fish market philosophy. I believe that my attitude is my choice, and my relationships are my choice, and now I choose to be happy, present, attentive to others needs and gave a new outlook on my future.

Read it, re-read it and step into a new future.

I was extremely excited to read Fish. I couldn't have been more in agreement that making our work environment fun could have positive effects. I also could not have been more disappointed in the work itself.
The book revolves around three simple points, "Choose Your Attitude," "Make Their Day," and "Be Present." Almost as if the author is aware of how few bones this fish really has, he draws these concepts out over several chapters to make them feel more meaty. The taste left in the reader's mouth is pure filler.
The book runs 115 pages, but feel like less. The large type and generous margins have the feel of a student reaching to make the bare minimum pages of their term paper after having procrastinated too long. The story within those pages is, by the authors admission and intent, pure fiction. Sadly, it is very, very bad fiction.
My biggest disappointment with Fish is that, with such a compelling story to tell, that of Pike's Place Fish Market, why would the author choose to go with a fictional story to support the claims made in the book? And, if the author chooses to use a fictional story, why would he choose to make the troubles of those involved so cliché and so easily solved? It seems to lead the reader to the conclusion that the concepts expressed have had no actual success, or could only secceed in the simplest of circumstances. I believe both conclusions to be wrong, but am given no evidence to refute them. The clumsy rubric the book provides would give the reader no better start to duplicating the actual success of the real fish market than they had when the started.
To add insult to injury, the author throws in an out-of-left- field marriage proposal between two characters with no prior hint of romantic involvement to cap off the story. I felt as though I had not read something beneficial to my company, but, the worst romance novel ever written. I still have great interest in learning about the story of the real fish market, but I will be a better consumer in the future. This fish story, stinks.

The concepts presented in this book are what my 8-year-old nephew would call completely "duh." Yes, we all know that we can choose how to react to situations, that having fun at work improves office morale, making someone's day brighter is a warm fuzzy for everyone involved, and the ability to be fully present when interacting with people improves the success of your business endeavors.
To further insult their readers' intuition into these basic principles, the authors of this book wrap the most convenient of circumstances around the main character, Mary Jane. She has recently been promoted to lead an office described as a "toxic energy dump," a phrase used more than one too many times in this parable. She meets a single, charismatic fishmonger after taking a wrong turn during a lunchtime stroll, who advises her on the secrets to office utopia, and she decides to share this with her co-workers. Although the office morale has been in a slump long enough to give it a terrible reputation, once Mary Jane presents these innovative new ideas aimed at fostering a more energetic office environment, everyone is immediately on board and ready to jump in headfirst.
As you might imagine, Mary Jane and her fellow employees are able to apply the lessons learned at the fish market to their own situation, and awards, tears of joy and gratitude, etc., soon follow. (I won't even go into the slightly more riduculous event at the book's conclusion.) However, instead of feeling inspired upon finishing this book, I felt like an even bigger cynic, and well, nauseous.

I think the story almost comes out too well in the book, making it seem less than real. While things work out fantastically I doubt it is ever often real change happens this easily or often for that matter.
If you need to read this book to raise the morale of your company you will most likely are wasting your time. While the hints they offer make sense, most of them are common sense.

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.

Harry Paul, Stephen Lundin, and John Christensen have done a masterful job of capturing the essence of how to infuse any workplace with high energy,positive attitudes, and a passion for performance. This book is very likely the best "how to improve your workplace guide" ever written. The power of FISH comes from the ability of the authors to convey their message in a format that is comprehensive, uncomplicated, and applicable to any and ever workplace.
This book is destined to become the authority on how to change your workplace into a powerhouse of productivity, personal satisfaction, and bottom- line performance.
FISH provides the framework to change any organization into a superstar!

This is a great book to boost morale in the workplace. Although, it can apply not only to the workplace, but also to life. If anyone is going to be miserable at work, you would think it would be the people working at the Seattle fish market, where they are cold, wet and handling slimey fish all day long. But with a little attitude alteration, they actually enjoy their work, and are happy.

Some people may not like this book, as it is difficult to admit that you may be creating your own unhappiness. Some of the examples are a bit hooky, but they nail down the point. It is such a quick, light read, that I strongly recommend giving it a chance.

Our company is having a rally in a few months with almost 200 team members expected to attend. This book has great ideas that are simple to understand and that will have a lasting impression. It truly is a book that can help turn a "toxic work environment and turn it into a positive work enviroment."

Attitude is the key throughout this book. It is a good read for everyone as it stresses on one of the important aspects of work life, Attitude. But beyond that there are other issues like functional and management skills which are equally important in todays business. The contents are similer to many of the new age books that you find in the market. One of the things that stands out in this book is that the book is very simple and easy to read. See if you can get it in a local library before buying it.

Among the tools available for human resources personnel to use in implementing the Fish! Philosophy are fluffy, brightly-colored plush fish toys. If human beings were all so soft and cheerful, the Fish! Philosphy would work very well.
I first read this book a year ago when the corporation I work for adopted the precepts of the Fish! Philosophy. I thought the book was charming and I was enthusiastic about how the ideas in it could improve our workplace.
A year wiser now, I realize that this philosophy, although well intended, can become a sharp and cruel weapon in the endless power games that humans play in the workplace. We aren't fluffy toys or pretty little tropical fish all swimming in schools in warm waters. There are sharks among us, as well as pirana, hammerheads, eels, and other dangerous types. The Fish! Philosophy just doesn't work because it gives the predators too much of an advantage over their prey.

An interesting effective yet light read on how to transform negative associates into highly productive associates. A must read for all managers. Positive results from proven techniques.
If you thought "Who Moved My Cheese" was good, Fish is even better!

Want to know why this book has sold so many copies? Because it is the center of countless crappy leadership building classes. The only people who enjoy this book and think that it contains anything besides fluffy bullcrap are morons who eat up this whole genre with a fork and knife.

The book does not provide adequate information on morale boosting. The examples cited do not occur too often in real life, and the situations are far too idealistic than the ones we encounter everyday.

No theory or research or whatsoever has been cited, making me wonder whether the content come from the author's dreams or pure imagination.

The book is also too short for a full fledged book to be published, I think that it's more appropriate to publish in a newspaper or blog.

Overall, it's a good lunchtime read, have a good laugh, and forget about it. It's not worth your money to buy it.

The idea is good: Four simple steps to make your workplace dynamic, fun and customer oriented. But to prevent any note of negativity from intruding on this Never-Never Land there's nothing to this book beyond these four steps. Are your customers crabby even though you've "chosen your attitude?" Does your boss think that "play" is goofing off? Did you "make their day," and get a grievance filed against you for harassment?
And what happens when you try to "be present" with coworkers who have joined the living dead and want only to suck the energy from your soul?
Most of us work in the Dilbert Universe where our best efforts are wasted on demented coworkers, jerk customers and insane bosses.
I pity the poor supervisor who gets saddled with implementing the chirpy ideas in this book. They may not fail but if they do it will because THEY are at fault, not the authors.

This book is a revealing statement about the American workplace. The authors decide that the fish market is a place where everyone has a good time at work, based on their lunchtime observations. The happy blue collar fish guys have all the answers for us yuppies. Bizarre fantasies like that are what keep the American workplace dysfunctional and neurotic. Do your employees a favor and don't insult them with this nonsense.

Another business book with a message told via a parable. How does a manager newly assigned to a department turn it from a "toxic waste dump" to one that helps its internal customers serve their external customers? I won't give away the details, but it's a very pleasant read with a lot of good advice. It's a very short read (1-2 hours max.) but one you'll probably want to read it several times over your lifetime.

Books like these are almost offensive at first. They are so simple that it can begin as a frustrating experience. But much in the same manner as Who Moved My Cheese? or The One Minute Manager, I found myself being drawn into these simply profound truths. I enjoyed the raw authenticity of the people who worked at the fish market. It made me feel as if I was in Seattle witnessing the exhilarating fun that they create there. I loved the real life edge to the book and of course enjoyed the happy ending. More over, I was able to take some very practical applications back to the place I work. Thank you Fish!

This book is the literary equivalent of a double shot of caffeine: just enough to pick you up for a couple of hours and make you feel great, but no real lasting effects. The characters are believable, and the four key principals make sense. There are a lot of examples given, but it is missing something on the application side of things. He attempts to make up for this in Fish Sticks, but don't even get me started on that book. Over all, if you are looking for something that is going to make you feel warm for a little while but you don't care more about philosophical concepts than tangible business usage, then buy the book.

Looking for a quick how-to read on managing? This is it. Stephen C. Lundin cleverly boils it all down to a simple story in the form of an allegory that everyone can apply to their own situation. "Fish" transmits a few simple ideas: be enthusiastic; make someone's day; and, be there for everyone. If you're really serious about management and leadership, go on to read "West Point: Character Leadership Education..." by Norman Thomas Remick, another easy-to-read book that uses allegory (West Point symbolizes America) in order to give you a complete understanding of the basic foundations of management, leadership, and character in our America.

Stephen C. Lundin and et al (I'm glad I'm not Mr. et al) caught, and passed on to me, a few small fish -- be enthusiastic, make someone's day, and be there for everyone -- that can feed millions. I recommend this little book to you. I then went on from there to catch the big fish -- really understanding what leadership is -- by reading what I was told is the premier (and easiest to understand) book on the foundations of leadership. You should catch the big fish, too.
Also recommended: "West Point: Character Leadership Education, A Book Distilled From Thomas Jefferson's Own Readings And Writings" by Norman Thomas Remick, to catch the big fish.

We have three authors with interesting and challenging jobs telling everyone else with bad jobs, bad bosses, and great big obligations to face the facts that there is nothing you can do about it so be happy instead of miserably depressed. It's not even "make the best of it" it's "be happy in spite of it all"! I'm sure every business in this country wants all of their employees to change their attitudes rather than the business change the way they treat their employees, the way they structure jobs, and the way they compensate the people who work for them.

I've so far read 60 pages of Fish! -- which, because of its grade-school font and layout, amounts to about ten pages of a real book -- and I have yet to find any sentiment that was not obvious or banal. In the guise of a lame allegory about a plucky but confused manager and some colorful guys who love tossing fish around, this book offers no insight whatsoever into how to make an actual workplace thrive. It's supposed to help boost morale in the workplace, but it's written for people whose interpersonal skills and imagination are so weak that they are beyond help. I feel demoralized just reading it.

While the parable is forced, the message is clear and inspirational. You can ( and should ) enjoy your work. The simple framework is one any company - large or small - can follow. It takes very little money and a lot of courage to break out of a traditional mode.
I'm a believer in Fish and have passed on my copy to our leadership team. It's a quick read (2 hours max) and inspirational. Most of all, it is easily understood. You can tell where companies have used it, employees have a different attitude.

Having just finished Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results, I felt compelled to write this review.
Fish is a wonderful book that will motivate people to take pride in what they do. People like to work in an environment that is fun, energizing, uplifting, and where they can make a difference. Fish reminds you of all that is good and possible about work and inspires you to think on those things.
I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to make work more fun and enjoyable!

Fish! A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results: This book is not earth shattering by any means from what you are going to learn from it. It takes a simple story and tries to get a simple concept across.

The book recognizes most of us don't work in a fish market. It does show us how the fish market attitudes were adjusted for a financial company. By examining the turnaround of an extremely toxic workplace, it also shows us how to make work fun and interesting again. It also doesn't lead you to instant expectations. Change takes time and effort. You have to want to change your attitude at work and alleviate the toxicity of your workplace before you can truly affect change.

Friends recommended this book so I though I would give it a try. It is much deeper than I expected and inspirational. If it isnt fun, it ain't worth doing!" by the author should be manadatory for all managers in all businesses. Read and Learn to Manage. The fish market portrayed in this book is the embodiment of almost perfect workplace teamwork. "Fish" transports its readers into the realm of Leadership greatness.

Stories make for wonderful teaching tools. FISH, based on the famed Pikes Fish Market, presents a compelling argument why every company needs to incorporate passion and fun into what it puts out. I would also recommend Get Weird by John Puetz. Good work, as long as you incorporate the ideas and don't abandon them 30 days from now. Otherwise, it becomes another addition to the Flavor of the Month slush pile.

The book presents some plain facts about how to boost morale in an organization. It's true that it helps you clarify the basics of people handling, but don't expect to find an in-depth analysis or innovative research on the subject.

If MOST of your employees
a) are not having fun,
b) want to be anywhere else but there,
c) are watching out for what management is thinking/doing instead of what serves the customers, and
d) GENERALLY have poor attitudes,
IT'S BECAUSE YOUR COMPANY'S MANAGEMENT SUCKS!

...not because your employees are stupid and flawed...

I found Fish to be an honest to goodness, entertaining, enjoyable, easily implemented, staight forward management improvment concept somehow compacted into 107 pages. FISH lead me to the path that will improve my company. Teaching the concept of bring energy into the work place to my reports will hopefully create urgencey and bring fun to the jobs of my sales team. I want my people to be fully engaged in their jobs just like the Fish folks. I hope they write a follow up.

First those darling rodents helped me with my cheese 'tude in "Who Moved My Cheese." Now I have these charming 2 year old fish thank for improving moral and boosting results. Or, boosting morale and improving results! Have it your way, I am used to my cheese being moved, so I don't mind the correction!
Three glorious hurrahs for the fish. I am much more highly motivated and boosted, in a results-oriented way, through fish-management technics than I am by that cat-o-nine!

We used Fish! as a team-building exercise at work. We read about 20 pages a week and then discussed. Even people who don't like to read, enjoyed it because it's such a quick, easy, story. I did get CD's for a few people. This was a group that needed to become cohesive, and after the second week, everyone was animated about Fish! People shared their own experiences as it related to the story. Very easy discussion starter. Now they want to take a field trip from Kansas City to Seattle to visit Pike Place Fish Market!

This book has all the depth and insight of a Taylor Swift song with no redeeming qualities. Apparently it's supposed be a parable or fairytale, in which case it succeeds by having zero practicality, touch with reality, or relevance to anything. Its overall message: "People work better if they try to enjoy their jobs," merits a brief chapter in a legitimate book about leadership.

The fact that my military service branch assigned it to me as part of a leadership class made the experience doubly aggravating (so many parallels between corporate America, a fish market, and the military!) and ironically made my attitude and corporate buy-in worse. Fittingly, my issued copy now sleeps with the fishes.

This book is HORRIBLY written. I cringed the whole way through the book because of the narrative style, the point of view violations, the purple sentimentality, and the impish layout design. Too bad I wasn't the one hired to edit this piece. The content may be relevent to today's society, but there is absolutely no way I can recommend this book because of the obtuse writing style. Why did I even bother finishing this book? Well, the CEO required it. This book is easily written (my ten year old sister could finish this in a day), but it took me over a month to finish this book because I become ill after picking it up. Whoever editted this book should look for a new job, for evidently he/she doesn't know a thing about writing!

I was unfortunate enough to have been made to read this utter, banal trash. This 'book' is yet another in the endless deluge of 'management' aids. Being a manager myself I was extremely disappointed as this book offers no new insight or any hints to great management secrets. Once one gets past the countelss pages of fluff, the underlying moral is simple...your job is what you make of it. If you have a positive attitude and outlook, your job will be enjoyable. If you think your job is boring and menial then it will be just that. These are basic common sense ideals that any capable manager should already be instilling on its employees. If you are a manager and are unfamiliar with these concepts then you are obviously either ill-trained or completely inexperienced and should not be a manager in the first place.
My true rating would be NO STARS, but the lowest possible was one star.

While the ideas seem to be relevent the story behind it is boring and cheesy. But what can you expect from a parable book? I think it is basically the same book that has been writen a hundred times before. I hear the movie is better, but I don't feel I wasted an hour of my life on a completely pointless book. I think the ideas of choosing an attitude and focusing on your customer can help anyone out in any kind of business. But did it need to be packaged in a $14 book?

There's no point is rehearsing the story yet again, so I'd like to restrict myself to just one comment:
Read this book. Because for all its apparent simplicity it actually summarises the very heart of what emotional intelligence is all about.
If, on the other hand, you have no desire to be emotionally intelligent, you should maybe avoid this book.
Thank you.

When I saw the original film, from which this book was made, I was inspired like never before and put many of the principles to good use. When I read the book two years later, I found it seriously lacking. Where the movie is both exciting and insightful, the book is quite pedestrian. It seems almost as if it had been written by a high school student. Buy the movie, grab yourself a bag of popcorn and prepare yourself for a (real) paradigm shift.

The fish market portrayed in this book is the embodiment of almost perfect workplace teamwork. "Fish" transports its readers into the realm of Leadership greatness. This book and "Always Remember: If it ain't fun, it ain't worth doing!" by Wayne Kehl should be manadatory for all managers in all businesses. Read and Learn to Manage.

I have referred this book to my friends and clients many times since I read it over a year ago. After reading this, clients have enthusiastically related to me how it transformed their attitudes and made them feel powerful. If you have not read it you MUST. It is a great gift for anyone.

This is a book that can change the way you approach your career.....if you let it. Begin reading it with an open mind, and it will open your eyes as well. No matter how seemingly mundane or boring your job may be, you can change your outlook by changing your approach. I was inspired by the Pike Place fish market employees to change the way I view my career.

This book is a super quick read and you'll find yourself able to not only grasp but also implement the key concepts the very same day in any organisation - if you chose to. This book has been so successful it's spawned a whole series of other similar books - but start with this one. Not only does this book help you to make your work fun, it's a fun read itself.

The Third Floor of the office building is considered a "Toxic Energy Dump" until a new manager teaches them they can choose their attitute. And then everything is great and they love their jobs. Deep, no?

This simple 112-page book can change the way you look at work/life! A great read, fun, exciting, exhilarating and most importantly motivating! My excitement about this book and its content has caught fire, Friends, teachers, co-workers and neighbors a like are catching on to ways to catch fish at work and home! Thanks! Harry, Stephen and John for a great read!

If you haven't got Fish yet, get it now. First, if you're involved in any organization this book will point the way to a whole new world of success. Second, Fish is going to be a classic and your First Edition is going to sell for a fortune some day! Click it into your shopping cart now. You'll be glad you did.

Terrible. "Change your attitude and change your life" is great way to cover up and avoid the problems in your life, but it's not an authentic way to live. It's also the cheapest way to off-load the management's responsibility to change the workplace's faults onto the shoulders of the employees. Ugh. Not realistic or sustainable.

I did not want to like this book - it is popular and faddish. In spite of myself, I read it and really enjoyed the story. It is cheap, and with another book, shipping was free, so can't complain about that. The story is fun, but it is up to you to apply the lessons to your own life. That is as it should be. Don't look for a miracle, but stay open minded and you will learn something. Even if it is just one helpful thing, it's worth this quick read.

If you are working in a boring nonstimulating environment or heading an unmotivated team, this book is made for you!
The author describes a step-by-step approach to give every team member a new stimulating perspective. Start now. Tell them the story about Fish!

Fish is a way of life that has improved my relationships at home and at work. Just make it fun!! that is the final advise any wise man can tell you. Just enjoy what you do and make somebody else feel special around you!. This is Fish!.

Great product, little-great book.

:)

I found this book to be truly inspirational. At first, I didnt get it and thought it was too simple, but as a I read on, I came to realize just how profound it is. The only advice that I can give is not to give up on it before at least 60 pages.

I got in trouble when I tried to implement the principles of tossing things at work and hugging/fondling all the women...I guess it just doesn't work that well in an OBGYN clinic.

Enjoyable but useless. Pat the Bunny is much more applicable to business.

This heart warming story is for every one! If your an executive, parent, brother, sister, friend or simply put-- just have a pulse, buy it, READ IT and live the basic principles of "PLAY, BE THERE, MAKE THEIR DAY, and Choose your ATTITUDE! You have no idea how 112 pages can simplify things.

The book is too saccharine and simplistic. I also had the pleasure of listening to the audio book as well. The condescending tone was annoying and I felt as if the approaches were unrealistic.
The underlying principles were reasonably valuable but personally did not like the delivery.