A few years ago, I read a cool book called  Fish that talked about
energizing the workplace. The book was based on the authors’ findings
from a small fish market at Pike Place in Seattle. I was intrigued by
the simple message in the book. Since then, I have visited Seattle
several times but never had the time to visit Pike Place Fish Market.

Last week, I was at Gnomedex
(which was great in itself) that was held close to the Pike Place fish
market. I sneaked in and wandered around in the market. I saw a couple
of stores selling fish but could not see any major excitement. I asked
around and found that the place I was supposed to look for was deep
inside the market. Once I reached there, I could see why this was the
basis for a book. The place was filled with excitement and every team
member was bubbling with energy. It was like a festival and they were
putting up a great show. In short, it was like a tourist spot with
people taking photos and videos of well…folks selling fish.

It was amazing.. a short distance away there were other shops almost
selling the same product (fish) and the energy level over there was
like the energy level in any other market but boy, here things were
different.

Lesson learnt: People are what makes a business special. The energy and
engagement of people in the business can make a huge difference
(whatever they sell)