My wow moments with the famous Seattle Fishthrowers

Photo credit - picryl

What is common among Sri Sri RaviShankar an Indian spiritual head, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple, Mr. Ping from the Kung Fu Panda movie and the Seattle Fishmongers of Pike Place Fish Market?

They all can articulate their inspiring philosophies in few clear words.

RaviShankar says, “Listen to the sounds, listen to your breathing.”;
Steve Jobs says, “You've got to find what you love. If you haven't found it yet, keep looking. Don't settle.”;
Mr. Ping says, “To make something special you just have to believe it’s special.”;
And the Seattle fishmongers say, “Make a world famous difference, to every single human life you touch”.
Simple statements, enormous possibilities.

It was no coincidence, therefore, that my first priority on reaching Seattle, WA, was to meet the famous fishmongers at the Pike Place Market.
And I did meet them and how.

You will ask me, "What's so special about these fishmongers?". Let me tell you.

They converted their ordinary workplace into an EXTRA ORDINARY learning institute. They are an example of how an energising organisation is run. They go out, in turns, to teach management to the senior leadership of global organisation. Their training videos have become a must-watch training material in most organisations. Books written around their work philosophy are bestsellers...........

Their small shop, Pike Place Fish Market, is one of the fifty odd shops set up for the local artisans on Pike Street, Seattle. All these shops sell fish, flowers, or souvenirs created by local craftsmen.

The reason why tourists throng this particular shop is to watch the positivity created by the employees, all 12 of them. You will see each of them fully charged to work and to serve all through the day.

A typical scene is like this: If you buy, say, a salmon from the stall, the fishmonger attending to you will pick it up and throw it to the cashier with a loud call, “One big salmon flying all the way to you.”All the remaining fishmongers shout after him, “One big salmon flying all the way to you.”
Sometimes, you will hear a big energetic shout, “Two huge crabs coming your way” followed by a shout from the crowd, “Two huge crabs coming your way”. Some other time, you will see them playing with children who came to watch the famous fish throwers. You will sometimes see them nudging one of their customers to go near the cash counter and catch the flying fish coming their way. You will see every one of them celebrating every bit of their work life, all the time.

Throughout the day, there is a big crowd of tourists around the shop to watch the action and to capture the excitement on camera.

I promised myself that I would meet them.

I knew that they started their work at 6:30 in the morning. So I reach the shop early morning and introduce myself. They are happy to include me in their huddle, their first activity for the day. Exactly at 6:30, they all huddle up and start with an inspiring story that emphasises how their attitude for the day is going to impact their customers’ happiness. After sharing a few such stories amongst the team, they break out of the huddle with a victory cry and start the next act of the day, which is to set up the shop beautifully. The shop must be ready at 8 am.
I request for someone to be allocated as my boss. Jake, a fish monger, becomes my boss. He gives me a pair of gloves and asks me to weed out mussels and broken clams from the huge tub of clam. After that, I help him set up the salmons.
In between, Jake talks to me about how important it is to make the right choices in life. He says, “You know, when I reach home, I have a small baby to attend to, so that my wife can do the cooking. I am dead tired, but then I go back to what I learn and practice each day in my work place, which is, one has to make a choice about attitude; to choose to be positive or not so positive. I pick up the one I am used to – being positive and making a difference, a world of difference. After I have made this choice, my life and the lives of people around me becomes totally different. It is fun.”

Then, Sam, another fish monger, comes along and gifts me one of their books – ‘When Fish Fly”. I request all of them to autograph the cover page. They are happy to do it. Sam then narrates some great stories about the team. He shares the story of how a couple of them travelled to meet a small girl who was hospitalised and wished to meet the famous fishmongers and how they did the fish-throwing act right in the middle of the hospital ward to bring a smile on her face.
We set up the shop exactly at 8:00 a.m., complete with ‘signature boards’, such as ‘We are the world famous fish place’, and are ready to welcome the customers.

My job is complete. I got what I wanted to get, from “The World Famous Fish People”, as they like to be called. I take off waving the team a good bye.

What a team! What a sense of pride in what they do for their living!
What a philosophy – “Making a world famous difference to every single human life they touch!”
And what a way to really LIVE the philosophy each moment of each day.
I worked with them for only hundred minutes and came back with a great message about life.
Wow!