Fish! Tales: Real-Life Stories to Help You Transform Your Workplace and Your Life (Hardcover)

by Stephen C. Lundin (Author), John Christensen (Author), Harry Paul (Author), Phillip Strand (Author) "Play is not just an activity; it's a state of mind that brings new energy and sparks creativity..." (more)
Key Phrases: fish guys, choose your attitude, plastic fish, Tile Tech, Rochester Ford Toyota, Missouri Baptist (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Fish! Tales is Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, and Harry Paul's follow-up to Fish!--their enormously popular fable that draws lessons aimed at combating dysfunctional workplaces from the happy fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market. In Fish! Tales the authors show how these lessons were put into practice at businesses both big (a major hospital and long-distance carrier) and small (a local car dealership and roofing company). Anyone who enjoyed Fish! (or, for that matter, Who Moved My Cheese?) or is looking for a motivational tool to help energize their own workplace, should find this short, upbeat primer worthwhile. --Harry C. Edwards

From Booklist
This is the sequel to Fish! (2000)--four life lessons learned by observing workers at Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market. And although that book inspired some awful puns, this follow-up book not only captures Fish!'s philosophical essences--play, be there, make their day, and choose your attitude--but also showcases four examples of success, from a well-regarded hospital in Missouri to a Rochester, New York, car dealership. The similarities? Repetitive and boring work and dismal work environments, all in industries reputed to offer less than desirable careers. Lundin and crew document with care the four befores and afters, intersperse brief Reader's Digest-type anecdotes, and then outline 12 personal activities for a dozen weeks--whether it's a gratitude journal or my favorite random act of kindness. Change does indeed happen one person at a time. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (April 10, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786868686
• ISBN-13: 978-0786868681
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #31,256 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better than the original - real world examples are great!, April 6, 2002

By	Dan E. Ross "Dan Ross" (Frisco, Tx USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

FISH! TALES is a follow up book to the bestseller FISH! For many who read the first book, you will find the fundamental philosophy repeated again but it is needed because the authors have designed this book to stand alone on its own merits. If you haven't read the original you can read this book and understand the principles.

I personally think that reading the original book first is best. Just my opinion.

If you choose to read the original book (only 130 pages or so) you understand the basic principles of the FISH! Philosophy and what the goals are. The goals of this book are the same as the first........As the authors put it in the first book "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."

Doesn't that line above ring of salesmanship? The authors are selling to senior managers the supposed benefits of their book...just something to think about...

While FISH! was written in a parable (short story using fictional characters) format FISH TALES is not. This book is much different than the first and I personally enjoyed this book much more than FISH!

In this book the four points to the philosophy are repeated.

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.

Where this book differs is the following:
* They provide REAL WORLD examples of how companies have implemented the FISH! Philosophy. I personally felt as though the first book was HIGHLY deficient in that sector.
* They interview senior managers who convey that they must "practice what they preach" and be committed to the program.
* They show real world examples of how employees began trusting managers and how critical it is in the whole process.
* They give you a 12-week roadmap to success. I believe this is critical to the success of implementing such a philosophy

This book, like its predecessor, is a great read for the following reasons.
* It is a quick read. I read it in about 2 - 3 hours and I am a fairly slow reader.
* 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.
* These are the kinds of books that employees will read (great for training programs) as they are 100-200 pages in length and easy to read so a massive investment of time and energy isn't required by employees.

My concluding thoughts: I think this book does a better job than its predecessor in conveying key elements but it still never spells out the reason why most management programs fail. I really enjoyed reading the book. I think the book made some inroads from its predecessor through more illustrations and another 40 pages of writing. I still think they just need to convey a basic point to readers. That point is "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.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Integrating Fish and optimizing the workplace, September 8, 2003

By	John Hallmark (USA) - See all my reviews

The Fish philosophy isn't new but the unique context and delightful presentation makes it effective. I got a lot out of this book because I saw how the concept is integrated into organizations. We have found that the best companion for the Fish philosophy is to train employees in Optimal Thinking. Optimal Thinking is the simple, realistic mental resource to empower individuals to be their best and bring out the best in others. I recommend both of these books.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fish Market in Jail, April 1, 2002

By	Sean (Wheaton, IL United States) - See all my reviews

Fish and now Fish Tales have created in me a new capcity to wonder. The sheer thought of the workplace magic described by Lundin and his co-authors about Pike Place Fish Market (where workings devote to customers their passionate, joyful energy every single day) is irresistingly intoxicating.

Yet is it all true?

After reading these books, I realized that even serving for 7 years in as disparate a profession as law enforcement, my partners and I saw this magic frequently in our own strange world... A sort of Fish Market in Jail. "Being there", one of the core principles in the books, left even prisoners such as a shoplifter I recall amazed and tearful that someone would actually pay full, respectful attention to him. He never quite encountered it in a restaurant or a store, so how surprised he was to find it in jail. He knew that he had done wrong and was not interested in wasting his efforts in arguing the fact... but, while in the processing center of the jail, I was simply fulfilling my professional duties of fingerprinting and photographing... and within that simple moment of time in a cramped processing cell, I was free to glimpse the magic described in these books.. our own version of tossing fish and playing with crawdads.

The sense of wonder alone makes these books a must... especially when you believe it can be true in your own world.