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by Hilary Burns
Librarian
Business Resource Center
Country of Henrico Public Library
hburns@henrico.lib.va.us
Making Work Work
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High job satisfaction is a frequent
concern for workers and for organizations, as employee
happiness is directly related to performance. The
following recent titles offer suggestions on creating an
enthusiastic workplace, how confidence and dedication to
customer service are essential to success, and how to
achieve a more satisfying work life.
John Yokoyama, owner of Seattle's Pike Place Fish
Market, has joined author and consultant Joseph Michelli
to write When Fish Fly, his story of how changing the
culture of his workplace helped him to save his business
and achieve amazing success. In the past few years,
Yokoyama's fish market has been featured in corporate
training videos and the best-selling book Fish! for its
energized workplace and legendary employee morale.
After suffering a major financial crisis, Yokoyama hired
consultant Jim Bergquist to find ways to improve his
company's performance. During a brainstorming meeting,
one of his employees declared that they should become
“world famous.” After considering the idea, they
decided that they could become famous for being great
with people, from their suppliers to their customers.
Guided by this purposeful vision, the Pike Place Fish
Market evolved from a business dedicated to selling fish
to an organization dedicated to extraordinary customer
service.
Yokoyama admits that before this transformation he
behaved like an angry dictator who yelled at his
employees and created a hostile work environment that
caused high turnover. Once he understood the creative
power of his people and the importance of offering a
place where they could make a difference, the fish
market's mediocre profits began to soar. People were
attracted to the fun, energetic atmosphere and soon the
small fish market was getting free television publicity
and was actually becoming world famous.
With the release of the corporate training videos
featuring the Pike Place Fish Market and it's
enthusiastic, empowering culture, Yokoyama received so
many speaking requests that he eventually started a
training company, Flying Fish/bizFutures.
Yokoyama discusses his own personal journey, his
company's transformation and how he had to begin by
changing his attitude and management style. This slim
volume effectively conveys the exciting atmosphere of
the Pike Place Fish Market and the power of a creative,
energetic and supportive workplace.
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