Fish! Sticks: A Remarkable Way to Adapt to Changing Times and Keep Your Work Fresh [Hardcover]

Stephen C. Lundin (Author), John Christensen (Author), Harry Paul (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2003

he 'o-FISH!-al' follow-up to the phenomenal bestselling Fish! and Fish! Tales, Fish! Sticks is a stand alone business parable that shows you how to come up with a vision for your business and how to keep it alive, vital, and renewed through tough times, such as turnover in management and staff or a troubled economy. Using the example of a hugely successful, fictional sushi restaurant as a model for a vision of continual renewal, Fish! Sticks employs the same kind of easy-to-read story that was used in Fish! to illustrate its three major principals of continued success: Commit, Be it, and Coach it. When Stephanie, a new manager, takes over from a wildly popular and now promoted boss, she is faced with the problem of how to keep spirits up in a corporate unit that has, frankly, started to get bored and cranky and revert to its old ways. But then she visits the amazing Taka Sushi (formerly Taka Teriyaki), with its lines of customers cheerfully waiting for hours to get in. Soon, she realizes that the way to keep her employees motivated and her customers delighted can be learned from a bunch of waiters who teach one another everything they need to know. And when she finds out just how the owner of Taka knew to switch her main bill of fare from teriyaki to sushi long before anyone else, what she really discovers is the secret of keeping your work fresh.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In this third installment in the popular Fish! series, the authors examine change as a necessary, ongoing process that should never stop--at least not if one wants to keep the workplace vital and fully alive. Using a fictitious sushi restaurant as an example, this fable examines the three principles that Lundin, Christensen, and Paul believe are necessary for continuing success: Find It ("it" being each employee's personal vision of the business), Live It, and Coach It. Readers of the authors' previous books--Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results and Fish! Tales--should find its familiarity comforting. For those new to the series, this standalone volume is easy to read and highly valuable. --David Bombeck

From Publishers Weekly

This audio version of the third book in the Fish series uses as its example the work at one ward of a large suburban hospital. Rhonda, the supervisor, had been promoted, and her mentor, whom she succeeded, had been an ardent follower of the Fish program. Rhonda believed her staff was paying attention to the patients and were providing a level of service far beyond that at other facilities. However, after some time, she began to notice staffers were sloughing off and seemed not to be providing the absolute best care to the patients. The problem? Keeping the Fish principles fresh and new was difficult. After a visit to a successful sushi restaurant, Rhonda regained her enthusiasm for the program and, with the help of the sushi chef, was able to inspire her staff. In fact, her work was so effective, her staff was able to take over for Rhonda after she suffered a family tragedy. There's something charming about the Fish program, which counsels, "Find it, live it and coach it" ("it" is each employee's vision). The notion that individual workers can have a vision for their workplace and their place within a large organization is indeed empowering. And Rhonda's story offers insights into both personal and professional worlds. However, the simple message is rendered even more unsophisticated by the artificial voices on this audio. There's a kind of squeaky, schoolmarm voice for the older nurse who comes onto the ward, and the intonations used for the various nurses are similar and somewhat grating. Still, in spite of these flaws, the story and the business lessons within it are worth hearing.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (January 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868163
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868162
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.7 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #38,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #34 in Books > Business & Investing > Organizational Behavior > Organizational Change
  • #38 in Books > Business & Investing > Industries & Professions > Customer Service

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making change stick, September 3, 2003

By 

Richard Guberack (United States of America) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fish! Sticks: A Remarkable Way to Adapt to Changing Times and Keep Your Work Fresh (Hardcover)

How do you get a group of people to adopt new strategies of coping with change? This story provides food for thought. I recommend you read it along with Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self. When we use Optimal Thinking, we take the most constructive actions and achieve what is supremely important.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great read at the 1 year mark after Fish! 1, April 24, 2005

By 

Pete from Bingo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fish! Sticks: A Remarkable Way to Adapt to Changing Times and Keep Your Work Fresh (Hardcover)

As a manager in a government agency, I utilized the first Fish! book with our team as a part of our Manager's meeting last year this time. It was widely regarded as the best meeting we've ever had. Everyone loved it. Everything that the first book indicated would happen did. It was really pretty awesome. We are now widely regarded as the the best shops in the state, largely because of the practices we put in place with the first book.

We are in the planning stages of this year's manager meeting, and I was looking for a topic for the meeting. Fish! Sticks fits the bill perfectly. Ironically, we were at a point where we were just going to cob some boring presentation together because we had reached exactely the point that this book talks about where we have sorta gotten back to our own ways, prior to the change.

This one evening read was just what the Dr. ordered! I strongly recommend the entire set for folks in managerial positions.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Make Change Stick, March 25, 2005

By 

smartnurse123 (Slidell, LA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Fish! Sticks: A Remarkable Way to Adpat to Changing Times and Keep Your Work Fresh (Audio CD)

The well known FISH! philosophy can be applied to the health care setting. In this series, the 6th floor of a local hospital is transformed by the FISH! philosophy started by a nurse manager. After she leaves, the health care administrators are concerned that the FISH! philosophy was just a gimick. They plan to ensure a lasting change. This is achieved by helping employees make an internal change of heart rather than only an external or pep rally type of change. The application to health care is very timely and may be very helpful to nurse managers and nursing staff, especially those who work on units with low morale.