Editorial Review

Here's another management parable that draws its lesson from an unlikely source--this time it's the fun-loving fishmongers at Seattle's Pike Place Market. In Read more

Reviews (186)

Great Book!!
This is a great book and a good philosophy on work and life in general! It is a quick read and very much so worth the time to check it out!

A delightful and insightful reading material
It's an easy to read book, simple and yet insightful. The Fish Philosophy does not only apply to one's workplace but also to how a person chooses to approach life in general.

A great place to start
Stories make for wonderful teaching tools. FISH, based on the famed Pikes Fish Market, presents a compelling argument why every company needs to incorporate passion and fun into what it puts out. I would also recommend Get Weird by John Puetz. Good work, as long as you incorporate the ideas and don't abandon them 30 days from now. Otherwise, it becomes another addition to the Flavor of the Month slush pile. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Customer relations    5. Customer services    6. Employee motivation    7. Human Resources & Personnel Management    8. Leadership    9. Motivation    10. Motivational    11. Business & Economics / Motivational    12. Office & workplace    13. Reading Group Guide   

Reviews (9)

Help is on the way!
As a reading coach and future administrator, I found this book extremely helpful. The activities that are included for each of the 5 dysfunctions are very useful and vary from touchy-feely to down-to-business. I've already used some of them on a particularly dysfunctional team and the team is starting to evolve. This is a great tool!

How to get the most from a team
Having read Lenconi's first book, a parable titled "The Five Dysfunctions of a Team", I was curious about this follow up title.I believe this book is better than the original title because it provides practical solutions.Lenconi recommends disclosure of a childhood vulnerability that you overcame as a starting point for building trust.Overcoming self interest by keeping common goals visible to the team is also recommended.I highly recommend this book along with Optimal Thinking: How To Be Your Best Self (to teach teams how to consistently maximize situations) and Winning (to teach leaders how to put principles into practice).

A Review by Dirk Davis
Lencioni begins the discussion concerning overcoming the five dysfunctions of a team by asking two questions that should be asked BEFORE any team building effort:
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Business Development    5. Management    6. Management - General    7. Management - Teams    8. Organization Development    9. Teams in the workplace    10. Business & Economics / Management    11. Management & management techniques   

Editorial Review

Once again using an astutely written fictional tale to unambiguously but painlessly deliver some hard truths about critical business procedures, Patrick Lencioni targets group behavior in the final entry of his trilogy of corporate fables. And like those preceding it, Read more

Reviews (124)

Amazing Insight!
This book was required reading at our office and at the time I wondered why, after all we had a great team! After taking the assessment test I realized we had lots of room to improve! The story was a quick and easy read but very effective. We implemented many of the ideas in the book and work much more effectively today than we did a year ago. Thanks for a great book!

Excellent
This book is loaded with information, well-written, entertaining, and quick reading.
The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable
Excellent, engaging, easy to read and understand. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Decision Making & Problem Solving    5. Leadership    6. Management - Teams    7. Teams in the workplace    8. Business & Economics / Leadership    9. Management & management techniques   

Reviews (55)

Disappointing
I was thinking negative thoughts waiting for the book to advise me on positive thoughts.

Encouragement is Like Miracle-Gro for Relationships
I have long been a proponent of encouragement as a means to build healthy, strong relationships and promote growth. This book offers a concrete plan for making that happen. I have observed people moved to tears by a little appreciation. People are starving for love and appreciation. Don't let the people in your life suffer any longer.

Good Service
I ordered this book on Friday August 25th at 4:53 p.m.
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Subjects:  1. Applied Psychology    2. Interpersonal relations    3. Motivational    4. Negativism    5. Optimism    6. Personal Growth - Happiness    7. Personal Growth - Success    8. Psychology    9. Social Interaction    10. Social Science    11. Sociology    12. Sociology - General    13. Advice on careers & achieving success    14. Business & Economics / Management    15. Popular psychology    16. Management    17. Workplace Culture   

Reviews (6)

A handbook for world changers
No matter how you identify yourself in the human ecosystem -- worker bee, sheriff, manager, capitalist, entrepreneur, politician, healer, parent, activist or consultant -- this book is going to turn on lights in your brain. It's that multi-layered. It's also that packed with the kind of simply brilliant insights that are totally familiar, and you wonder why you didn't remember that you knew that.
The Starfish and the Spider ... Yes!
I have a childhood memory of building a go-cart. Every kid in the neighborhood was involved. Who was in charge? Whoever had the right answer in the moment of the next right thing to do. Hands, hearts, minds worked together, one idea building on another. It was an emergent experience in every sense of the word. The go-cart was more beautiful and functional than any one of us could have built alone.
Logical Flaw
I must preface by saying I know nothing about starfish, and I have not read this book.I have read several positive reviews of it.
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Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Development - Sustainable Development    5. Organization Of Industrial Production    6. Organizational Behavior    7. Organizational Behavior In Business    8. Workplace Culture    9. Business & Economics / Organizational Behavior    10. Organizational theory & behaviour   

Reviews (14)

Of Limited Use to Defense Industry
While this book contains a great deal of useful information on team dynamics and tools, it does not cover the Integrated Process and Product Development (IPPD) framwork which is the basis of co-located Integrated Product Teams (IPTs).Due to this omission, its applicability to the defense industry is very limited.

Dog-earred, highlighted, and still going strong!
Like all good improvement tools, this guide for teams has evolved over the years. I began with the original, moved to Edition Two and now have Edition Three. Along with THE LEADER'S HANDBOOK, the TEAM HANDBOOK is probably the most useful and used book I own. Whether you are leading a project team, facilitating your own workgroup, or just want to be a better team member yourself, THIS is the tool you need. Every chapter is jammed pack with helpful tips, traps to avoid, notes and templates to help you be successful. Invest in this book, invest in YOURSELF!

Cal Poly student review, Brian Leininger
This book was well written and easy to understand.It gave a lot of information that would be useful for anyone attempting to use teams for projects. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Entrepreneurship    5. Workplace Culture    6. Business & Management   

Reviews (13)

Great Conflict Resolution Lessons
In particular, the lessons you can learn about identifying and resolving conflicts are absolutely priceless.This and Corporate Canaries are MUST buys if you are a manager in any sort of capacity!

The story is everything
For books like this to work, they have to have both an engaging storyline and real-world characters.This book has both, and I found myself re-learning a lot about dealing with change, managing difficult people, and understanding how different types of people have different styles of working.The group discussion questions in the back are particularly useful.I will probably suggest that my whole department get copies and read it together.There are some on my team who need a little coaching, and this is a very non-threatening way to deal with difficult issues.Great job!

Lessons from the Hive
Charles Decker is vice president of an electronic publishing company, does work with business publishing initiatives, and has coauthored Beans: Four Principles for Running a Business in Good Times or Bad.Lessons from the Hive is about a fictionalized organization that is reinventing itself and was created to teach positive ways of viewing changes in an organization, how to deal with fears of the unknown, the importance of trust, and how to deal with conflicting interpersonal relationships. It is of the business-fable genre that uses a week-in the-life approach for five players in an organization including a recently installed CEO, a newly hired employee, and a seasoned director of marketing with personal struggles at home and at work. The junior change agent uses mantras many people call clich�s such as Happiness is a choice; Inspire yourself, others will follow; Vanity is not a team sport; Enthusiasm will take you 90 percent of the way; and Change your thinking, change your life. This book can be used in classrooms and in businesses. Many people learn better by stories and examples than by other methods. This is a brief but powerful message. There are questions at the back of the book to assist reflection about each chapter. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Consolidation and merger of co    5. Consolidation and merger of corporations    6. Management    7. Management - General    8. Mergers & Acquisitions    9. Organizational Behavior    10. Organizational change    11. Business & Economics / Management    12. Business & Management   

Reviews (15)

A sound and practical coaching method
Tom Crane goes to the true essence of coaching. He developed a comprehensive coaching method to transform knowledge into performance and action into results. A must read not only for coaches, but also for managers and leaders.

Coaching for Results
This book gets to the "heart" of the matter - pun intended. "Coaching," according to author Thomas G. Crane, "is a healthy, positive, and enabling process that develops the capacity of people to solve today's business problems." Bingo! Crane focuses on what coaches can achieve focusing their coaching on three principles: building a foundation of trust, learning together, and forwarding the action (and the self) forward. This what Crane calls transformational coaching. Consider it to be the art and the practice of helping others learn about their strengths, their weaknesses, and their opportunities for development. Tightly written and with ample diagrams and charts, this book is a treasure chest of ideas of executive coaches and an easy to follow guide for all managers who desire to coach for results. Don't simply read "The Heart of Coaching," practice its principles and you will help those you coach grow and develop.

Life Changing Skills
As a senior manager with a major international manufacturing entity, I am continually educating my superiors, peers and subordinates about the value of developing exceptional coaching skills.After extensive research, The Heart of Coaching was the written vehicle we chose to develop these skills within our organization.Read more

Subjects:  1. Business/Economics    2. Leadership    3. Teams in the workplace   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (25)

Keep the Spirit Fishy!
Keep your experience of the Fish Philosophy fresh! This is a great companion to the original book. When you talk to folks about Playing and some of the other important parts of bringing a workplace alive, they often counter with, "What about the kind of job where you can't play. Like a hospital?" This little volume recounts tales of just such venues. Some stories are bite sized morsels, some are more substantial. They all provide nourishment!

Review of CD
The CD set is 3 hour
Insightful!
Things are going swimmingly in Fish! land. In the latest volume, Fish! Tales, authors Stephen C. Lundin, John Christensen, Harry Paul and Philip Strand build on the successful training program that evolved from their first Fish book. Tales shows how four companies - a long-distance call center; a hospital neural-renal unit, a car dealership and a roofing company - have applied Fish! theories effectively. They also provide short examples from other companies to show how well the Fish! function. The four main principles are familiar by now - keep the work fun, seek to serve others, stay focused on your customers and have an enthusiastic attitude - but the examples in the book bring them alive. Along the way, the authors heavily sell their Fish! courses and merchandise - that's just good salesmanship - but the real catch of the day is the final how-to section, showing ways to apply these principles in any organization. The lively writing style helps keep you hooked. We suggest that if you haven't yet caught any Fish!, start with this one. Its cheery, accessible methods should lure you in, hook, line and sinker. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Careers - General    5. Customer Service    6. Customer services    7. Employee motivation    8. Human Resources & Personnel Management    9. Leadership    10. Motivation (Psychology)    11. Motivational    12. Motivational & Inspirational    13. Business & Economics / Motivational   

Reviews (17)

Tools for creating a Learning Culture
Peter M Serge, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook
enlightening concepts about leadership
It seems to me that The Fifth Discipline (the previous publication of the series) is more attacting to me. The second book can be more precise and concise in content. Generally speaking I still like these two books as a foreign reader.

The Fifth Discipline
This book is a collection of theoretical summaries, reports, analyses, and strategies all quite useful to anyone interested in generating some thinking and action around change. The team of five writers (Peter Senge, Richard Ross, Bryan Smith, Charlotte Roberts, and Art Kleiner) provide some original work, but also serve as editors to a vast quantity of material drawn from practitioners, theorists, and writers in the field of organizational improvement. According to Senge, "great teams are learning organizations - groups of people who, over time, enhance their capacity to create what they truly desire to create." (p.18) This book is really about creating and building great teams. The learning organization develops its ability to reflect on, discuss, question, and change its current and past practices. To do this, people and groups in the organization need to meaningfully pursue the study and practice of the five disciplines - personal mastery, mental models, shared vision, team learning, and systems thinking. Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Fifth discipline    5. Handbooks, manuals, etc    6. Human Resources & Personnel Management    7. Leadership    8. Management    9. Organization Development    10. Organizational Behavior    11. Organizational effectiveness    12. Senge, Peter M    13. Teams in the workplace    14. Training    15. Business & Economics / Leadership    16. Organizational theory & behaviour   

Reviews (19)

Disappointing generalities
A colleague thought I would enjoy this book, and I understand why.Cultural relativism is usually intersting.It is not uncommon for pop business books to feel like overextended magazine articles...that's not all bad.But I must say, this book seems to me to be an overextended chart of cultural differences...and the author didn't even provide a chart; instead he provides meandering prose.I realize I'm in the minority in terms of reviews, but this book is at best mediocre.It is superficial and not informative.But please note: I have only read 100 pages of this 200 page tome.I didn't want to waste anymore time so I recycled the book.

Marketing Genius!
Read this book and unlock the secret door to the rest of your life! Clotaire Rapaille will give you insights into your own desires and help you understand the world in which you live with uncommon clarity.

Good marketing is knowing what you audience really desires
Clotaire Rapaille writes an original work in that you should discover what your audience really desires.Marketing your product with the natural desires of the population is they key in marketing that will return high yields.Rapaille suggests that we must dig and discover what the primal desire is for any particular product for a marketing campaign to be a success.
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Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Cognition and culture    3. Consumer Behavior    4. Consumer Behavior - General    5. General    6. National characteristics    7. Social Science    8. Social perception    9. Sociology    10. Sociology (Specific Aspects)    11. Sociology - General    12. Workplace Culture    13. Business & Economics / General   

Reviews (7)

great original book on coaching - still work a read!
This book was outstanding when it first came out - and it has truly stood the test of time. Sir John provides a welcome breath of reach air from the often all too frequent US-based and over-hyped coaching genre. Along with Thomas Lenard, Sir John Whitmore is one of the real pioneers of life coaching and workplace coaching. A great book.

The "Grandfather" of Coaching Books - and Still One of the Best!
This book, now in its third edition, is the grandfather of coaching books and approaches. Much of what has come to be known as professional business coaching came from Timothy Gallway and Whitmore's sports training techniques. As such, the book provides a simple foundation for coaching based on the context of awareness and responsibility through asking questions and listening. He presents the G R O W model of coaching - Goal, Reality, Option, Will - as a format for coaching sessions.
Difficult leap from tennis to business
I used this book for a class on coaching and developing employees.There were eleven people in the class that read the book and each was very disappointed. The overall conclusion was that the author should stick to sports, as the attempt to link the priciples to business was too far of a stretch. We will not be using this book again. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Employee motivation    4. Employees    5. Entrepreneurship    6. Human Resources & Personnel Management    7. Organizational learning    8. Personal Finance    9. Personal Finance - General    10. Teams in the workplace    11. Training of    12. Business & Economics / Personal Finance / General    13. Personnel & human resources management   

Editorial Review

Organizational guru Ken Blanchard has long had a knack for writing management books that are easy and fun to read (Read more

Reviews (30)

Wow, what a book!
While I have read other Ken Blanchard books, this one truly got my attention and was wonderful.As a student collegiate athelte myself, Blanchard and Bowle's book was easy reading and very easy for me to connect with based on my own experiences.The book allows one to follow a main character that starts off by being fired from his job, then gets involved coaching a young hockey team and calls on a coach he remembers from his school days to assist and turn the team around.With the assistance of this "coach" the main character begins to understand what it takes to make a successful team. He realizes the importance of maintaining a positive attitude and building team pride.This is a book that you can't put down, it can be read quickly and easily and I do feel everyone would be able to associate with parts of the book.Blanchard and Bowles do a great job at using the hockey team to teach the readers about team building yet simultaneously showing how these same principles can be applied to a work site.One is taken through the steps of team building and given examples time and time again on how these steps can be applied.There are very interesting twist throughout the book that keeps one's attention.I recommend this book to everyone.

Team work - A neccessity in any workplace
Team Work - Everyone knows the importance but yet more often than not, our own individuality gets in the way. How much more can be achieved if everyone behaves for the collective good of the group rather than for himself?
For the simple minded only - and not in a good way
This book is a utopian, unrealistic, poorly thought-out, infantile piece of trash. It's an insult to the intelligence of any adult who reads it. Written at a third grade level with 16-point type, this book's contents would be better suited to a coloring book. The philosophy it presents a real no-brainer, and if you need to read this to learn these principles, you have bigger problems to worry about. The "story" is just that, a "story" - there isn't an ounce of truth or realism to it, so just file this book under "office fairy tales". Believe it or not, I'm not a pessimist, I love books, and I'm totally into "self/professional improvement" topics. But do not waste your time or money on this silly book. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business & Economics    2. Business / Economics / Finance    3. Business/Economics    4. Entrepreneurship    5. Management - Teams    6. Organizational Behavior    7. Teams in the workplace    8. Business & Economics / General   

Reviews (1)

A great review manual and reference book
This book was my primary source when I was preparing for the CLA exam.Coherent, organized and thoughtful, it is a "must buy" for CLA candidates.Until my book was borrowed (and not returned) by another legalassistant, the manual served as a handy reference manual in my practice. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. College Entrance    3. LSAT (Law School Admission Test)    4. Law    5. Law Office Administration    6. Law Office Education    7. Law examinations    8. Legal Reference / Law Profession    9. Legal assistants    10. Professional - General    11. Professional Education    12. Reference    13. United States    14. Business & Economics / General    15. Higher & further education    16. Industrial or vocational training    17. Legal skills & practice    18. Office & workplace   

Reviews (15)

Showing Our True Colors
Mary Miscisin's book was outstanding! It was a fun and easy read, yet full of informative and interesting ideas about people and how and why they act the way they do.Having been an educator for many years, this is THE book I could have used long ago to better interact with my students and their parents. The book's content makes easy what Myers-Briggs tries to do.I would recommend it to anyone who has a desire to deal more effectively with children or adults.

Color Me Satisfied
Easy to read, full of wisdom.I never could figure out how to use Myers-Briggs.I can use this everyday with everyone I meet.Useful for all ages, both sexes.Entertaining presentation helps emphasize a language of Colors that is non-threatening, non-emotional, and constructively wonderful

Life-long Learning!
As an educator with 30 years experience in the classroom and in coaching, I wish I could have read Mary Miscisin's book 30 years ago!I would have been a much better teacher and coach because I would have had a much better understanding of my students and athletes and how to more effectively communicate with them based on their colors.I couldn't put the book down because I kept meeting past students as well as people I know now represented in Miscisin's creative and stimulating examples."Showing Our True Colors" was so challenging and packed with information, yet so simple to understand and implement.Every parent, teacher, and coach ought to read the book.It is a must for couples and anyone who wants to communicate more effectively.Where was this book when I needed it?Oh, yeah, I still do need it today.Thanks Mary! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Body, Mind & Spirit    2. Conflict Resolution    3. General    4. Inspiration & Personal Growth    5. Interpersonal Relations    6. New Age    7. Personal Growth - General    8. Psychology    9. Psychology & Psychiatry / Personality    10. Typology (Psychology)    11. Conflict management    12. Diversity in the workplace    13. Personality    14. Personality assessment   

Reviews (16)

Great Book for Boy Scouts and Work Groups
I have several book the ideas for team building activities, but none have had so many good ideas. Not all work well with every group, but there is something for everyone in this book (and its follow-on "More Team-Building Activities for Every Group."

Lots of ideas
I found this an excellent book. A lot of physical activities so not suiable for all but an excellent variety

What can I say I love this book!
This book gave me a lot of useful ideas.I modified the games to fit my needs but the ideas where there. I borrowed it from the library and had to buy a copy for myself.What a great investment! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Business / Economics / Finance    2. Business/Economics    3. Family & Relationships / Activities    4. Games    5. Games / General    6. Group games    7. Group relations training    8. Human Resources & Personnel Management    9. Management - Teams    10. Activities    11. Economics, Finance, Business and Industry    12. Educational Games    13. Family & Relationships    14. Games / Gamebooks / Crosswords    15. Teams in the workplace   

Reviews (4)

Can't we all just get along!
This book with mainly two things in mind: communication and understanding. The author's adopt their longstanding research about the world of typewatching into an intelligible book about the main areas of the work environment such as problem solving, conflict resolution, time management, etc.