Book Club. ‘FISH’ by John Christensen.

A story that teaches four powerful principles to improve the conditions of any workplace.

Mary Jane is the supervisor of the operations area of the First Guarantee Financial Company and built a very good reputation for herself. She was liked and respected by the management. Soon Mary was promoted to a third-floor department which is called the Toxic Energy Dump. Mary was reluctant but accepted the promotion. She observed the deadly atmosphere of the department where employees were working for the sake of work with no energy or enthusiasm. Mary meets Lonnie at Pike Place Fish Market and learns and applies the four principles – Choose Your Attitude, Play, Make their Day, and Be present at her office and transforms the workplace into a better place for everyone to work.

It was easy to connect with the story as I started reflecting and making connections while reading. These Principles are common needs for any workplace or any worker. I personally realized working the same kind of work as a routine makes it boring but it is definitely one’s own attitude that can make the same work interesting and new for him. I am fortunate to be at FS where each employee is first considered as a human and cared for. At FS all these strategies are used to energize and motivate the employees to work. Here we (all the stakeholders) respect and care for each other, listen to others, support, and help each other.

Reading the book was interesting, it boosts the energy level. I read ‘Feel the Fear and do it anyway’ earlier which was equally interesting. I would suggest everyone read the book. My take away from the book is ‘Taking no action, itself is a failure.’