Rating: 
Summary: A fun quick read.
Review: Do you want to infuse your organization with a new spirit and more energy? Then buy this book. It is a quick read, and a fun way to consider an energy infusion into your workplace. It's a great book, buy it.
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Summary: A Fish Story That's Real & Inspirational
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great story
Review: How a little market in Seattle became the inspiration for a book on how to re-engineer your workplace environment makes a great story just by itself. This book on how you can turn your workplace from a psychological "toxic waste dump" into one that is positive, energizing, and fun, takes its inspiration from an unlikely source. The ideas here originated, not from some modern, high-tech company's Harvard-MBA-educated yuppie HR director, but from Seattle's Pike St. Fish Market. I live in the Bay Area, but I have visited Seattle many times and I'll never forget the first time I visited the market. It was my first visit to Seattle so I asked someone what I should see. I was surprised, in a city with many beautiful attractions (such as the famous Space Needle), when I was told to check out the Fish Market. I thought this was odd but off I went down to the wharf. I parked and walked over to the concourse where the market was supposed to be and walked along the walkway past all the shops. There are a lot of shops so I just kept walking along for a while. I was about to ask someone if they knew where the Fish Market was when I heard a shout and a large, silvery missile flew threw the air in front of me as the crowd laughed. I had found the Fish Market. The Fishmongers do this thing where they play catch in front of the store with a large, slippery fish. The fish goes sailing through the air at high speed and through the crowd and one of the other fishmonger's catches it and then throws it back. They call out to each other and make jokes all the while they're doing this. In other words, they're obviously having a lot of fun, and they put on a good show for the crowd. When I saw this book, I was delighted that someone had discovered that there really was something special about this Fish Market, and had written a book on their ideas on how to make a better workplace. I work in Silicon Valley, and, paradoxically, there are advanced, high-tech companies here whose workplace environments are anything but advanced and high-tech. They could learn valuable lessons on how to change that from this low-tech, seemingly humble source.
Rating: 
Summary: Catch the Energy and Release the Potential
Review: We wrote the book, FISH! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results because we believe that we all should be able to enjoy our work while increasing productivity. Why can't the mantra of workers be, Thank God it's Monday. You can accomplish this if you live the FISH! Manifesto. As you enter this place of work please choose to make today a great day. Your colleagues, customers, team members, and you yourself will be thankful. Find ways to play. We can be serious about our work without being serious about ourselves. Stay focused in order to be present when your customers and team members most need you. And should you feel your energy lapsing, try this surefire remedy: find someone who needs a helping hand, a word of support, or a good ear -- and make their day.
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Summary: Excellent for Trainers
Review: I have had a very successful run of workshops and trainings based upon this wonderful book. As a business consultant and advisor I am always on the search for tools to help get particular points and issues across. FISH is picture perfect for enrolling employees in the process of building what Blanchard calls "raving fans". FISH is the easiest and most effective leverage tool to infuse this sort of comraderie and collaboration because it's an easy read, it resonates even with the toughest cookies and gives a model that is so darned easy to get. My clients are blown away with the results. One in particular cannot believe how some folk who were 'stuck' for years are now coming out of their caves and participating. Get the book, read the book, prescribe the book and give your clients the gift of FISH. Dave Corbin, Poway, California.
Rating: 
Summary: Gung Ho!-Type Book for Toxic Energy Waste Zones
Review: It is not surprising that this book is a lot like Gung Ho! Oneof the coauthors is from the Ken Blanchard organization, and Blancharduses a film created by the other coauthors in his talks. The story is a fable built on a real fish business in Seattle, Pike Fish Place (usually referred to as "the world famous Pike Fish Place" in the book). The fable is wonderful and if it were written in the Gung Ho! format, I would have given in 5 stars and wished to give it 6. I frankly liked it better than Gung Ho! for its central message. In fact, if you live in Seattle, assume I gave it a 6 because you won't have the problems with the book that I did. The reason I graded the book down one star is that the structure doesn't quite work. The first problem is that there are a lot of references in the book to Pike Fish Place that probably make all kinds of sense to people who have been there or seen the film. I have had neither experience. I found some of the references quite confusing. Why do customers want to catch raw fish wearing their business clothes? Why do customers want to buy fish from a fish market where customers are encouraged to try to catch the fish, and the fish usually fall on the ground? Beats me, but the book talks a lot about this kind of example. I came away confused in a number of places. But I'll be sure to go by Pike Fish Place on my next trip to Seattle to figure out what the authors were trying to teach me. The rest of the references are pretty clear, so you won't be confused all of the time. Perhaps you have a better imagination than I do. The other structural problem in the book that caused me to grade it down is that the process described for implementing Fish! involved having the people involved visit Pike Fish Place. .... Ignoring the structural problems, the story is as heart-warming a fable as you could hope for. It tugs at the heart strings in a way that the Blanchard fables don't do. That's why I would normally have wanted to give the book a 6 star rating. .... One of the great strengths of the book is that it aspires to humanity in places where humanity is often partially shut out -- back offices, fish stores, and other places where most people would not want to work. The authors persuasively point out that life is what you make of it. .... The book is clearly aimed at the supervisory and managerial level person, although it will be appreciated by those below and above those levels. .... .... Fish! and have a ball!
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Summary: I Love to FISH!
Review: 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.
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Summary: Fish A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improv Results
Review: 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.
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Summary: Grab your pole and let's go FISH!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
Review: It is not often that a business book comes along that makes you think and feel at the same time. This book not only has powerful advice for those of us in the workplace, but gives it in a context of valid and true emotions. If you find yourself a bit choked up at the end, don't be surprised. This book grabbed me from page one onward. Dynamite!
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