When I was 17 years old, my family visited Seattle, Washington. I didn’t know much about the city at the time (except that it was the birthplace of my favorite grunge band from middle school, Green Day), but my dad made sure we scheduled a trip to the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market. I didn’t know much about the market going in, but the memories of fish-throwing and the fun atmosphere stuck with me.
Flash forward six years later: I was told I should read a leadership book written by John Yokoyama called When Fish Fly. I wasn’t given much context other than “just read it,” so I decided to give it a go. Little did I know that this leadership book was actually a peek under the hood of the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market. Just like that, I was hooked (pun definitely intended).
When Fish Fly tells the story of how John Yokoyama, with the help of his consultant friend Jim, turn the World Famous Pike Place Fish Market around from a company on the verge of bankruptcy to the world famous market that it is today. While I don’t want to give too much away (because everyone should read this book when you can!), I did want to highlight a few of my favorite quotes:
“Our intention was not to bring fame to ourselves. Instead, it was to deliver as world famous fish mongers would. As is always the case, the intentions from which you work bring forth powerful and unpredictable results.”
In the book, Yokoyama does a great job explaining the importance of finding your “why” (similar to this famous TED talk by Simon Sinek). It’s not just enough to do something well. You have to know why you’re doing it. It’s the why that will get you through the tough times when you don’t feel like you’re making a difference. It’s the why that will get you out of bed when things aren’t going so great. And it’s the why that gives you the motivation and passion to bring about real change.
“Being does not mean the absence of planning. It simply implies that you are not wedded to your plan; instead, you are committed to your intention. It means that you adopt a way to relate to the world instead of a specific course of action. Being is not about trying to control events in your life. Instead, it’s about repeatedly choosing to stay the course of your commitments.”
Yokoyama talks a lot about “being” versus “doing” and describes “being” as the act of living out what you believe without creating a to-do list of steps to accomplish. That’s a pretty hard concept for me, a Type A Georgia Tech alumni, to grasp. And with the endless amounts of self-help books that exist, I think it’s safe to assume I’m not the only one who struggles with this concept. I find it particularly interesting that Yokoyama, the owner and top dog at Pike Place Fish Market, leads with this style of being committed to his vision and intention, rather than creating a specific course of action for the company. This type of leadership is very similar to Servant Leadership, the philosophy and practice of leading by putting others (i.e. your followers) before you and being committed to their success and empowerment.
“Personally, I decided it is better to trust, because that fits my life better.”
John Yokoyama whole-heartedly trusts all of his employees. This fact is evident throughout the book as he cites several instances where he willingly trusted. One example includes the time he loaned $10,000 to an employee so that he could buy a house. Or the time(s) he bailed his employees out of jail. Or the time that he hired and fired an employee three different times, the last being after the employee had returned from rehab and had successfully turned his life around. And like anyone would assume, Yokoyama has been burned pretty badly on a few different occasions by his employees. But he also realized that trusting others just fits his lifestyle better. It’s the attitude that reflects his commitment to his overall vision. It’s the attitude that allows leaders to give everything they’ve got to the cause. It’s the attitude that inspires others to follow.
What did I miss? Share your thoughts with me!
Wired Young 