When Fish Fly: Lessons For Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace From the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market (Hardcover)

~ (Author), Joseph Michelli (Author) "FOR TWENTY YEARS, I WORKED HARD to make my business-a small fish stand in Seattle's Pike Place Market-successful..." (more)
Key Phrases: safe listening space, famous difference, powerful conversations, Pike Place Fish, Black Mouth, Pike Place Market (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By empowering his employees, helping them buy in to his business vision and encouraging an intense commitment to customer service, Yokoyama turned a struggling Seattle fish market—with many unhappy employees—into the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market. Now "it would be difficult to find any retail store in America that makes more money per square foot of retail space," Yokoyama writes; "we haven’t had a full-time employee leave within the past five years." In this volume, which liberally employs fishing metaphors, Yokoyama and Michelli (Humor, Play and Laughter) share lessons and concepts that apply to a wide variety of business ventures. They offer advice for instilling passion in employees, thinking outside the profit box and striving to reach out to the community and customers, solving problems effectively and with a view to improvement, and realizing as goals are achieved, that "the process never ends. The game is simply played at a higher level with time." Well-placed quotes from such luminaries as Nelson Mandela and Woodrow Wilson enhance the book’s inspirational, if idealistic, messages.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Yokoyama is the owner of Pike Place Fish in Seattle's Pike Place Market, a historic, open-air market located in the heart of Seattle, Washington. Crowds gather daily to see the crew of fishmongers throwing fish and interacting with customers, and also to purchase some of the freshest fish in the country. The stand wasn't always as successful as it is today, however. Yokoyama's attitudes were shaped from his childhood experience of being imprisoned in World War II Japanese-American internment camps, as well as by his overbearing father. Prone to outbursts of anger, his strict, closed-minded management style wasn't working. Through much personal work he became aware of the effects that negative dialog, both internal and external, were having on his crew. Once he made a conscious decision to take a personal interest in his employees and created a vision of becoming a "world famous" fish market, the business really took off. He now shares his powerful insights as a consultant on the creation of dynamic business cultures for corporations around the world. David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion; 1 edition (August 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401300618
• ISBN-13: 978-1401300616
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #74,928 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Good Read !, March 23, 2005

By	Rolf Dobelli "getAbstract.com" (Switzerland) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Author John Yokoyama, owner of Seattle's World Famous Pike Place Fish Market, explains how he changed his attitude toward his employees, embraced a new way of treating people, led his employees in a fundamental directional shift and built a widespread reputation. This isn't a business "cookbook" that tells you step by step what to do. As Yokoyama insists, you can't just copy someone else's success. You must be an individual. However, the story of his turnaround and triumph at World Famous Pike Place Fish Market is a good read that illuminates the need for leaders to treat their employees, as he says, as people, not as human resources. Although the Market is getting to be as overexposed as a fish left out in the sun, we welcome this first person exposition from the owner. After numerous published accounts about the Market, the saga of how Yokoyama empowered employees, promoted his business and changed his style comes through best in his own words.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fishing for Success? Give this Book a Read!, October 8, 2004

By	Graverobber "Gary" (Des Moines, Iowa) - See all my reviews

"When Fish Fly" is a fast read with substance.

The title comes from the practice of the "fishmongers" (workers) of Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle, who are 'world famous' for tossing the customer's fish purchase great distances and putting on a show to the delight of thousands of visitors.

Several years ago I read the book "Fish!" by Stephen C. Lundin, et. al., a business parable grounded in the story of lessons learned at the Pike Place Fish Market. "When Fish Fly" is written by the owner of the business and the organizational coach who has worked with the business for many years. The book provides some fascinating background on how the market became the shining example it is today. Further, the authors lay out eight key principles at the foundation of their success:

1. Creating a vision of power and possibility as a team.
2. Enrolling and formalizing individual commitment and team alignment to the vision.
3. Helping team members distinguish between the state of being and the state of doing. (A call to BE the vision in the moment, whatever it takes.)
4. Having leadership redefine themselves as effective agents of change.
5. Assisting team members in letting go of internal and external conversations that rob them of their personalpower.
6. Guiding team members to listen to make a difference instead of listening to defend or blame.
7. Helping the crew live their commitment to one another through effective coaching. (Everybody coaches everbody else and is open to receiving coaching from everybody else.)
8. Assisting crew members as they turn snags into breakthroughs.

Most of all, the book reveals the power of alignment to a vision, and provides some strategies any organization can take if it is interested in a vision that includes making money and also making a difference in the lives of its workers and customers.

The book lacks a hard edge for readers who insist 'it's a jungle out there.' As author Og Mandino put it one time, if it's a jungle out there, it's because we have made it so. "When Fish Fly" provides an alternative approach.

Persons who have read the book "FISH!" or who have seen the instructional video will still gain a great deal from this book, but it stands just fine by itself as well. Both business and non-profit organizations will benefit from its brevity, inspiration, and strategies.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Customer service & employee morale, October 12, 2004

By	Rick Sheridan "AudioColumn.com" (Xenia, Ohio) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace from the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market (Audio CD)

Customer service and employee morale are the two main messages from this interesting audio book. Yokoyama explains in his own words how he turned around a struggling Seattle fish market and developed loyalty from his employees, helping them develop vision and commitment. Having never had a full-time employee leave within the past five years, Yokoyama offers advice for encouraging passion in employees, teaching them to overcome the daily frustrations and setbacks that are part of the job. The audio describes how crowds gather daily to see the crew throwing fish and interacting with customers, and also to purchase some of the freshest fish in the country. Yokoyama's attitudes were shaped partly from his childhood experience of being impris-oned in World War II Japanese-American internment camp.