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Fish!
Tales
By Stephen
Lundin, Harry Paul, John Christensen, Philip Strand
Hyperion, April 2002 - 170 pages
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
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.
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