When Fish Fly : Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace - From the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market
- Book Review,
by John Yokoyama, Joseph Michelli
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 AudioFile
After a brush with bankruptcy, the owner of a Seattle fish market transformed his business into a workplace that respects workers and makes a difference in the lives of everyone the staff contacts. The story of this transformation made the small company world-famous and spawned bestselling books, audios, and videos. The text is marvelously rendered by Kevin Gray, who manages to keep the threads of the inspiring tale pulled together in spite of an abridgment that feels truncated. That aside, the two-hour recording is a great lesson on small-group leadership, a compact guide to organizational change that all business owners should hear on a regular basis. T.W. © AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine
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
Ken Blanchard
"You can energize your employees and delight your customers by modeling your business on the . . . ideas from [this fish market]."
Book Description
The remarkable story of the Pike Place Fish Market -- told by the owner, who transformed the small company into the world famous business depicted in the bestselling parable FISH! In this revealing business advice book, the magic of the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market proves a dynamic example of what a group of people can create when they are aligned and living a powerful vision. Here for the first time, owner John Yokoyama explains in his own words just how he transformed his business into a workplace that is renowned worldwide. When Fish Fly offers Yokoyama's cohesive strategy for achieving world famous results for owners, managers, and front-line workers alike. Once you understand the generative principles behind the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market you, too, can develop a culture that leads to excellent employee morale and legendary customer service.
About the Author
John Yokoyama is the owner of the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market. John's love of fish began as a child fishing with his father on Puget Sound. He learned the retailing business by working at his dad's produce stand in the Pike Place Farmer's Market. At age 25, he purchased the fish stand across from his dad's produce stand. He lives in Seattle. Joseph Michelli, Ph.D., is a psychologist, organizational consultant, daily radio show talk host, professional speaker, and author of Humor, Play and Laughter. He presents and consults on the creation of dynamic and playful corporate cultures for corporations around the world. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
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