An Inspirational Cash-Grab

TITLE: When Fish Fly: Lessons for Creating a Vital and Energized Workplace
AUTHOR: John Yokoyama and Joseph Michelli, Ph.D
PUBLISHER: Hyperion
158 pages $28.95 CDN





BIG IDEA

John Yokoyama, the owner of the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market in Seattle (the place where they throw fish to each other and customers), describes how he brought his struggling business to unprecedented popularity and cooperativeness by adopting new methods and attitudes.

WHAT YOU CAN USE NOW

Always realize the difference between “doing” and “being”. For example, instead of just “doing” stuff to ensure better customer service, try “being” someone who continually seeks to provide better customer service. This way, you won’t just be paying lip service to a concept or idea and going through the motions, but will instead be completely committed to making that idea succeed. The difference between “doing” and “being” can make a profound difference in your life.

WHAT WE THINK

When Fish Fly is an unusual book. It’s part autobiography, part business profile, part self-help, and, let’s be honest, part advertisement. The book begins with the owner of Pike Place Fish Market, John Yokoyama, describing his working environment during its formative years: there was no money, lots of anger, and high staff turnover. Then, with the help of a business consultant, Pike Place Fish made a commitment to become “world famous”, and started to adopt some innovative business practices. Now, the owner describes his business as a “means to an end”, with creating a difference being the main idea. The rest of the book details different techniques, ideas, and attitudes that will help transform your business from a place where people go to get a paycheck into a place where people go to make a difference.

While I was reading When Fish Fly, I was of course skeptical. I always am when reading this kind of self-help genre, because I always assume that half of these books are meant to swindle people out of their money by selling a “system of success” that is nothing more than a few buzzwords mixed with some watered down common sense (or worse). However, I couldn’t help but notice how much of a difference the workers at the Pike Place Fish Market truly make. For example, in one story the owner paid for two of his employees to go and visit a young cancer patient on her birthday to throw stuffed animals and give away t-shirts to the other kids in the ward. The young girl lived in Minneapolis after having moved from Seattle, and would dream about going to the Pike Place market whenever her chemo treatments became too rough. The story is touching, and is an important lesson that even the most seemingly menial jobs can be highly rewarding and serve a greater purpose.

Nonetheless, I think that some of my suspicion is justified, since When Fish Fly reads like a 158-page advertising sample for the bigger products and services put on by the Pike Place Fish Market. Some of you may or may not be aware of this, but the Pike Place way of doing business has become a hot seller in the management world. Are you interested in other products and services offered by Yokoyama? Well, you could purchase the $600 US training video Fish!, which lays out the Pike Place system in great detail. Or, you could buy the more comprehensive trilogy of books published in 2000. Or, better yet, you could hire a consultant from the firm that has worked with Yokoyama for the last several years. Either way, the book is very low on useful advice, instead merely scratching the surface of what makes this company work, and encouraging you to buy the more detailed products. And, since there is no way you could possibly apply this system to your business using only this book, I can’t help but accuse this book of being a bit of a money grab: big on feel good stories and philosophies, but short on actual information. Backing up the point is the length of the book: a 158-page book basically written in size sixteen font. Its also triple spaced, and single sided. Obviously I’m exaggerating, but in reality there isn’t very much substance to the book, limiting its usefulness. Unfortunately you cannot buy thousands of dollars worth of business consulting for the price of $28.95 CDN.

So, even though When Fish Fly is light in the usable advice category, I believe that reading it will be very beneficial for those who feel they are in dead-end jobs and want to start making a difference. Everyone’s been in a situation where they feel that whatever they do can’t possibly have any profound effects on other people. But, as Yokoyama proves though through his own experiences, even a tiny fish stand in Seattle can have a huge positive impact. Who knows, maybe your job isn't as meaningless as you may think.

The B Cubed Crew