“When you find wholeness and spirit in work, creativity and quality will soar”
John Christensen
The book Fish!: A Proven Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results, by Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, Harry Paul and Ken Blanchard, is a lighthearted parable that sparked a worldwide phenomenon. It is a quick and easy read, certainly with a few takeaways. We have seen several workplaces in which this book has been handed out, when the going got tough, in order to help boost morale and to turn things around. If given a chance some of the simple, yet sound and genuine, philosophy can actually a difference, perhaps greater than you might first think.
Dr. Stephen Lundin is a writer, entrepreneur and filmmaker who has a long history as a graduate level business school professor and dean. During the last decade Stephen has worked with more than hundred organizations in 40 countries. A sample of his US clients include 3M, Guilda’s Club, Johnson and Johnson, Microsoft, Keyspan Energy, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, The Barnes Jewish Hospital System, Cargil, The Credit Bureau Executives, P&G, Wells Fargo, the University of Florida Medical School and Hampton Brands by Hilton.
John Christensen is a filmmaker and CEO of ChartHouse Learning. John was searching for a way to help people be inspired to live more passionately. During his travels, he came across a little fish market. When he saw the incredible and electric atmosphere and the fishmongers enjoying their work and interacting with customers, he was moved. John says, “I wanted what the fishmongers had…I wanted to inspire people to live and work wholeheartedly, with purpose, while having fun. I saw how this passion would be something other organizations would want too.”
That initial visit created the original FISH! film, which led to The FISH! Philosophy. This turned into a global phenomenon.
We recommend this book. The key points are meant as a preview and not a replacement for the original work. If you are intrigued after reading this, please consider purchasing the original book to get the full experience as the author intended it to be.
Key Points
The theme is: work made fun gets done!
The key characters Mary Jane Ramirez, a manager from First Guarantee Financial, and Lonnie, a fishmonger from Seattle’s world famous Pike Place Fish Market, teach us how to transform a “toxic energy dump” into a workplace that adds value, productivity and profit to the company, creating happier workers, employers, and customers!
1. Choose Your Attitude
Following the sudden death of her husband, Mary Jane had to take a position on the dreaded 3rd floor of First Guarantee Financial because of the salary raise and benefits it would provide her, as she was now a single parent.
The challenge was to transform this “toxic energy dump” into a unit that the rest of the company could work with effectively. They were the butt of all company jokes, where phone calls would go unanswered, and people could be counted on to rush to the elevators at 16:30 (4:30 pm) every day.
Mary Jane stumbled upon the Pike Place Fish Market one day during lunch. She immediately noticed the energy, enthusiasm, and interaction the market fishmongers and customers had. She made friends with Lonnie, who promised to help teach her staff the secrets of the success of the fish market.
Lesson: There is always a choice about the way you do your work, even if there is no choice about the work itself. We can choose the attitude we bring to our work.
Wisdom from the Pike Place Fish Market
- Have the courage to change.
- Never fear the risk of failure. The risk of doing nothing is greater than the risk of acting.
- Leave your own indelible mark on the world. Respect your creative urges. Your choices are as authentic as you are.
- Never stop learning and growing.
- You have within yourself more resources of energy, talent, and strength than you think.
- Concrete steps to take: Call a meeting and speak from the heart, find a message that communicates choosing your attitude in a way that everyone will understand and personalize. Provide motivation, and persist with faith.
Life is too precious to be passing through to retirement
At the Pike Place Fish Market, a character named Wolf had been on the road to a career as a professional race car driver. Following a serious accident he wallowed in self-pity and his girlfriend left him and friends stopped calling. He realized he had an important choice to make – live fully, or let life slip away in a series of missed opportunities.
2. Play! You Can Be Serious About Your Work Without Taking Yourself Too Seriously
In Lonnie’s words “This is a real business which is run to make a profit. This business pays a lot of salaries, and we take the business seriously, but we discovered we could be serious about business and still have fun with the way we conduct business. We have a lot of pride in what we do and the way we do it. And we have become world famous.”
3. Make Someone’s Day. Create Great Memories
The playful way we do our work allow us to find creative ways to engage our customers. Find ways to respectfully include them in the fun. Mary Jane observed this in the way customers had fun catching fish thrown by the fishmongers. Customers like being part of the show.
4. Be Present
Focus on the customer in front of you and be tuned in to opportunities to be there for people. Be alert, and pay attention.
Find ways to let your staff discover the fish philosophy for themselves
Mary Jane realized it would not work to simply tell her staff about the Pike market, they had to see it for themselves.
The staff were assigned to think about the four key ingredients she outlined.
The team reports
Each team brought their reports to the rest.
The Play team used a game to come up with some great ideas to implement more fun with a happier atmosphere.
The Make Their Day Team used a survey to understand what others thought of them and came up with a list of strategies to implement.
The Present Moment Team members related personal stories on the importance of being present for people and identified how to be fully present for one another and their customers.
The Choose Your Attitude Team report was brief and direct to the point, listing the benefits of choosing your attitude: THE CHOICE IS YOURS. “Angry, disinterested, bitter” or, “Energetic, caring, vital, supportive, creative”.
Leave a Reply