Free Book Summary – Fish! Capture the energy and release the potential by Stephen Lundin

There are 8,760 hours in a year. An average work year consists of 2,500 hours. You sleep an average of 2,950 hours a year. So you spend 62% of your time at work or sleeping. Unfortunately, work is a “have to” for most people. How do we make work fun and enjoyable? In this book, the authors approach the topic through a parable and a real-world example of “Pike Place Fish Market.”

Why is this important to me? I want to make sure that you guys, by watching this video, get something out of it. I’m trying to put myself in your shoes, so I need to answer this question. Sometimes we need to ask additional questions. Do you hate your job? Does your team hate their job? This is a common theme in America right now. This is the summer of 2011 and unemployment is high and people are holding on to their jobs. If you have dealt with any customer service department in the last 6 months, you have probably personally experienced the answer to these questions. Based on the poor service, you know that people hate their jobs. This is either bad news if you have to deal with that particular company or really good news if it is your competitor. This book cuts through the garbage and helps you build a culture of fun at work while building customer loyalty.

Before I dive into the four things that will help change a lackluster culture, let me define the problem. Most companies have to deal with negative attitudes. One negative employee can bring down an entire department. This spreads worse than cancer. Words like callous, entitled, zombie, obnoxious, slow, and negative. These words are poison for an organization and for yourself if you work in the environment.

1. Attitude – Choose your attitude. There is always a choice about how you do your work, even if there is not a choice about the work itself. If you are a team leader in your organization, then help your people grow. Yogi Berra said, “I am convinced that most people enjoy learning and growing, at any time in their lives.”

2. Play: as children we learn a lot simply through the art of playing. In business, you need to make a profit to stay in business. This doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. Give some thought to how work can become play. In the software game, you see this all the time. Look at the Google campus and it looks like Romper Room. This is a good thing. Google allows their team members 20% of the time. This means 8 hours out of 40, they can work on any idea they want. Some really cool stuff came out of this. GMAIL was created starting 20% ​​of the time. Give some thought to how Play can be incorporated and good things will happen.

3. Make their day – Remember that attitudes spread faster than CLAPs. When you make the customer’s day through commitment and a pleasant attitude, it will rub off on your co-workers and they will do the same.

4. Be present: This one eludes most people at some point. I have been guilty of this many times. Think about it. You’re on the phone with someone while checking email. You think you’re being a good multitasker when really you’re just annoying the other person because you’re half listening. This is even worse with text messages. Take a look around the next time you’re at a restaurant and notice how many people are texting while with your group. We have the attention span of ants these days because it’s so easy to connect through digital devices. Being present is a huge competitive advantage if you can ingrain it in your organization.

The fish is a great parable and should be read by anyone who hates their job. This short book is packed with great lessons and I encourage you to read it.
I hope you have found this brief summary useful. The key to any new idea is to work it into your daily routine until it becomes a habit. Habits are formed in as little as 21 days.

One thing you can take away from this book is to be present. I chose this one because it is the easiest to fix. Do me a favor and focus on this for a week and make a mental note of the reactions you get using active listening. I think you will be surprised. If you want to see the excitement of the real fish market, go to YouTube and search for “Pike Place Fish.”