Rating: 
Summary: Powerful Msg that's already having an impact @ home & office
Review: I just finished Whale Done and I loved it. I've been a fan of Dr.Blanchard's books for years and feel this latest book really gets to the essence of what he's been teaching for years. One of the big take aways I had from the book was paying attention and noticing. I find myself at work and home either not noticing or keying in on the negative behavior that I don't want repeated. In talking with a member of my staff about this I learned how I need to focus much more of my attention on noticing and praising the positive. The issue was very emotional for this person and I was a much bigger deal than I ever would have imagined. Ken and his co-authors emphasize building relationships where people feel that you mean them no harm. If the majority of the feedback I'm providing my people is how they can do things differently, dare I say better, they can misinterpret my suggestions as catching them doing things wrong. I've been making a concetrated effort to catch my staff doing things right. I've been amazed at how my natural tendancy is to revert back to seeing the mistakes and not encouraging all the things being done right. The concept seems simple and yet I can't say enough about the change I've seen in the energy level in my department. I still need to redirect behavior from time to time but I'm looking for what is partially right and building off of that verus focusing valuable energy on what was wrong. This approach has been equally as impactful with my son and wife. I've been married for ten years now and admit that I've stopped noticing all the incredible qualities that caused me to fall in love with my wife to begin with. The qualities are still there I just stopped pointing them out like I did when I was courting her. I've gone on far longer than I should but I must end with the change I've seen in my relationship with my 4 year old son. His behavior and more importantly our relationship seems to be headed in the right direction after just 5 days of coming home and noticing all the things that he is doing right or partially right. He runs to the door to greet me now and seems to get in much less trouble. The suttle or not so suttle difference has been the attention he has recieved from me. I was a little skeptical applying the concept with him because he is testing us all the time trying to find out what he can and can't get away with. Its only been 5 days but he seems much more interested in getting the positive attention from me than he does finding out what he can't get away with. Its sad that the we had to learn the importance of developing trusting relationships in this manner because killer whales won't tolerate anything else from trainers that would otherwise be little more than a lite snack. A huge thank you to Shamu for forcing his trainers to treat him in a manner that we all deserve but rarely get.
Rating:
Summary: Uplifting
Review: I read this book last night and it only took me 2 hours. I am very glad I picked it up. The positive reinforcement idea has been in my mind all day with the simple phrase "whale done". I liked the idea of 'One Minute Affiramations' in the "One Minute Manager" and this book seems to focus and expand on that. The simple concept of trying something different in the "Who moved my Cheese" was great, but with this book it points you in the right direction or re-direction. Dr. Phil was right on with the "Doing What Works and Doing What Matters" but "Whale Done" focuses on the trust issue first, and then getting into specifics. I now spend more of my time looking for the opportunity to catch people doing something right and hit them with instant appreciation. Good book, read it, I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Back to Basics
Review: I think that many people often forget the many attributes of positive reinforcement! Yes, it can work in an office environment...and it does. But more importantly the ideas put forth in this book can make a BIG impact on young people and their behavior. As a mother, preschool teacher, girl scout leader and active school volunteer, I give this book 5 stars. So often I see parents focus on "what the kid is doing wrong". Believe me, the "bad behavior" will fade away once you focus on the positive or "good behavior" that your child is doing. How do I know this? Recently my pediatrician wanted me to put my son on ADHD medicine (because he was too active). I did not want to "medicate" my son into good behavior patterns. After reading several books on ADHD I chose to take the "behavioral modification" approach and I have never been happier. There is much more organization and peace at our house! And I know what the long-term results are going to be....this is not the case with the medicated approach. I challenge all parents to read this book. I think they will be happy with the results!
Rating: 
Summary: No harm done
Review: If the first principle of medicine is: first do no harm, then Mr. Blanchard's book is at least primarily successful medicine. If you choose to read it, you will do no harm to yourself or your work or family relations. On the other hand, you're not likely to do a heck of a lot of good either. Mr. Blanchard is attempting in this book to explain the principles of positive training (or conditioning) without ever actually calling his methods by their right name, and indeed without accurately understanding them. Fortunately it's awfully hard to do real harm by telling people to be nice to each other.However if you really want to understand the principles behind the method (or in other words, to know what the heck you're doing and why it works), try "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor instead. Rather than being a business manager who talked with a killer whale trainer, Ms. Pryor actually was a dolphin trainer, and will give you the real deal. Kindness is necessary, but so is attention, timing, and a whole slew of other stuff tht Mr. Blanchard never goes into. Dealing with kids, dealing with co-workers, dealing with subordinates, or even dealing with bosses, find out how people learn how to treat you, and how to teach them to do better. Just find out from a different book than "Whale Done"
Rating: 
Summary: More of the same fromThe One Minute Manager
Review: If you read the one minute manager do not waste your time or money on the same old stuff. Maybe Dr Blanchard will get a new idea some day! ALthough he is a master at getting lots of $ for the same old stuff.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent message - well done
Review: In reading some of the comments this morning from the negative reviews of this book I could help but think - "did you read the same book I did?". It is obvious these folks are set in their ways and probably won't get it from reading this book. For the rest of us - we can! I thought the book was right on target and that it makes the positive reinforcement message ring clear. I especially like the redirection in the book - wow, if we could do that more often we'd really improve our relationships. As I read the book I began to develop some questions - like "how do you avoid coming across as insincere when you first start implementing this change?". Blanchard steps right into the solution at the appropriate time in the book. It is very logical. I put this quick read book (I don't have time for a novel and reading these books on airplanes is a great way to get this knowledge quickly!) on the same level as QBQ! which is another great read I recently found in an airport bookstore. These are my new reference manuals for interactions!
Rating: 
Summary: An interesting book!!
Review: In this book the author stressed the importance of ¡§building trust, accentuating the positive, and redirecting negative behavior¡¨ in order to speech up the effectiveness at work and at home or to improve our private life. In fact, the truth, which both whales and people perform better when you accentuate the positive, is not a new finding. Animals such as birds, dogs and monkeys also perform better when you accentuate the positive. But the authors used an interesting Heading ¡¥Whale Done! : The Power of Positive Relationships¡¦ for the book.I think, this¡¦s a good marketing strategy for promotion the book. At least when a shopper come to a book shop, seeing the title of the book, he/ she would like to have a quick look of the abstract of the book. In addition I don¡¦t know if the ¡§ruff business manager and family man Wes Kingsley¡¨ is really an existing individual in the world or not. But I really admire him. He has such a creative thinking and reflective mind that he associated the techniques used by animals¡¦ trainers to the techniques used by a manager, compared this two sorts of techniques, and then made use of the result to improve his own management skills. Perhaps, being a student who studying in Marketing, I should learn to be also as creative and reflective as Wes Kingsley.
Rating:
Summary: Good Quick Read
Review: It is always good to get a new twist on the idea of treating people well. The more you read, the better you get. I thought this one was a real winner and made me think about some situations in a new light.
Rating:
Summary: Whale Done equals 11,000 lbs of leadership
Review: Ken Blanchard does it again. He provides a fresh look at a tried and true idea. After years of management training and motivational classes, the importance of looking for the good gets tarnished. The idea of catching people doing things right instead of constantly looking for the negative works. The way Ken presents the parallel of killer whales and people is brilliant. During the book I couldn't help but think, these trainers from Sea World can't talk killer whale language, but yet discovered an effective way to get positive results. How is it that I have known my kids since birth, but can't seem to get them listen to one word I say sometimes. If these guys are willing to get into a tank with an 11,000 lb whale using Blanchards techniques, maybe I can get my son to keep his room clean and have fun doing it.
Rating:
Summary: A Good Read!
Review: Ken Blanchard of One-Minute Manager fame draws on the positive training techniques that SeaWorld whale trainers use to get their whales to want to perform. Although using whale training as a teaching model is a unique twist on the literature about training and motivating employees, the material itself is not nearly as exotic. Much of it draws upon traditional principles for getting along with others, such as building trust, emphasizing the positive and redirecting undesired actions into more productive channels. If you've read Blanchard's previous book about being aware when people do something right so you can praise them, some of this content will seem familiar, though he says this is his "most important" book. The story line tracks mythical businessman Wes Kingley's discussions with whale trainers who reveal what they do to train their creatures, gradually, carefully and with real warmth. These conversations blow some very basic points up to whale-size, but Blanchard writes with charm. We recommend this splashy manual, the first course in Whale Psyc 101.
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