Fish! by Stephen C. Lundin et al. - Suggested to me by a fellow teacher at a recent faculty book club meeting, this is a short and poignant parable that draws its lesson from an unlikely source-- the fun-loving fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market. In Fish! the main character , Mary Jane Ramirez, is a recently widowed mother of two who is asked to engineer a complete turnaround of her company's troubled operations department, a group that authors Stephen Lundin, Harry Paul and John Christensen describe as a "toxic energy dump". Most managers would call it quits and move on, having no hope of changing a long-established environment of uninspired work practices. But the authors don't make it so easy for Mary Jane. Instead, she's left to sort out the colossal mess by drawing upon the inspriation she finds from head fishmonger Lonnie. Based on a bestselling corporate education video, Fish! strives to help employees create a fun and happy workplace. While some readers might find the storyline and prescriptions for change--such as "Choose Your Attitude", "Make Their Day" and "Be Present"--downright juvenile or laughable, others will find a healthy dose of timely motivational management techniques. If you loved Who Moved My Cheese? then you'll feel the same about Fish!.
