Whale Done! : The Power of Positive Relationships

This is a great book that can have an immediate impact on your relationships both at work and at home. I highly recommend it for any one with children (especially teens) or supervisory responsibilities. But it can even help you with your peer relationships. I've been using it with my 14 yr old son and even he has noticed a difference in the way I respond to him.

One of teh best book I read!
Everyone should read this but especially business person it's a MUST.

Ken Blanchard is one of the authors of this book. You may remember him from such other books as The One Minute Manager series or Gung Ho. Blanchard Companies, Inc. is a ringleader in the positive management movement and this book continues that legacy with another great idea that you can learn and start using in mere minutes.

Whale Done! is based on the techniques used in training killer whales at SeaWorld. The initial message that grabbed my attention and interest was this: "You don't punish a killer whale and then ask a trainer to get in the water with him."

Talk about illuminating the pitfalls of negative reinforcement! Imagine that for a second.

From this initial precept and experience in working with killer whales, the authors build and demonstrate a system you can use for managing the relationships in your life--both business and personal relationships.

Much of what is here can be found in other management resources in different formats and styles. One of the signature elements in the Blanchard books I have read is that they take ideas and information and simplify them.

Occasionally, it may seem a bit over-simplified, especially when you are used to reading weightier tomes. But, it is a mistake to assume that simplicity means inferiority. Learning the skills and techniques in this book alone can have a hugely positive impact on your relationships.

Praising positive performance is not a new idea. We all know it and we've heard it before. We believe in it and we encourage it. But, we backslide and give up and fall back to our old patterns of negative reinforcement. It is hard to change our habitual responses.

This book can help change those habits, though, with its easy-to-remember tips and examples for accentuating the positive and for how to "redirect" when someone makes a mistake. Redirection is a key element of this book, too. It's not all Pollyanna Positive Praising. People do screw up. Screw-ups cost time and money and praising screw-ups is as counterproductive as it is counterintuitive. So, we redirect -- essentially, with more communication and training.

In working with people of the Gen X and Millennial generations, it is imperative that we learn to manage in a more cooperative, team-oriented and positive manner. Baby Boomers might initially have a difficult time with this style, since most of their experiences are with more authoritative, negative-consequences-based systems. But, regardless of one's generation, most of us can agree that a positive environment is far better than a negative one.

Whale Done! is not just a business book. It has several chapters on using the same principles in your personal relationships, too, including with your spouse and with your children. So, you might find it in the psychology section of your library or bookstore if not in the Business Section.

Highly recommended for anyone wanting to improve their leadership skills and their relationship skills.

Ken Blanchard is one of the authors of this book. You may remember him from such other books as The One Minute Manager series or Gung Ho. Blanchard Companies, Inc. is a ringleader in the positive management movement and this book continues that legacy with another great idea that you can learn and start using in mere minutes.

Whale Done! is based on the techniques used in training killer whales at SeaWorld. The initial message that grabbed my attention and interest was this: "You don't punish a killer whale and then ask a trainer to get in the water with him."

Talk about illuminating the pitfalls of negative reinforcement! Imagine that for a second.

From this initial precept and experience in working with killer whales, the authors build and demonstrate a system you can use for managing the relationships in your life--both business and personal relationships.

Much of what is here can be found in other management resources in different formats and styles. One of the signature elements in the Blanchard books I have read is that they take ideas and information and simplify them.

Occasionally, it may seem a bit over-simplified, especially when you are used to reading weightier tomes. But, it is a mistake to assume that simplicity means inferiority. Learning the skills and techniques in this book alone can have a hugely positive impact on your relationships.

Praising positive performance is not a new idea. We all know it and we've heard it before. We believe in it and we encourage it. But, we backslide and give up and fall back to our old patterns of negative reinforcement. It is hard to change our habitual responses.

This book can help change those habits, though, with its easy-to-remember tips and examples for accentuating the positive and for how to "redirect" when someone makes a mistake. Redirection is a key element of this book, too. It's not all Pollyanna Positive Praising. People do screw up. Screw-ups cost time and money and praising screw-ups is as counterproductive as it is counterintuitive. So, we redirect -- essentially, with more communication and training.

In working with people of the Gen X and Millennial generations, it is imperative that we learn to manage in a more cooperative, team-oriented and positive manner. Baby Boomers might initially have a difficult time with this style, since most of their experiences are with more authoritative, negative-consequences-based systems. But, regardless of one's generation, most of us can agree that a positive environment is far better than a negative one.

Whale Done! is not just a business book. It has several chapters on using the same principles in your personal relationships, too, including with your spouse and with your children. So, you might find it in the psychology section of your library or bookstore if not in the Business Section.

Highly recommended for anyone wanting to improve their leadership skills and their relationship skills.

This book gives you the key secret of how to get people to do what you want them to do - AND be happy about it! Whether they are your team mates, your employees, your friends or your kids, THIS STUFF WORKS!!!

I purchased this book as a reading for my management class in college and I love it! Although the story is fictional, the idea behind it is real. Perfect book for someone starting their own business or someone who is having a hard time running one!

An excellent book on the power of positive reinforcement and the importance of focussing on what is being done right rather than wrong. Ken Blanchard has once again created a powerful story to help illustrate key points and make reading this book fun and memorable.

So intriguing are the principles presented in this book that I actually travelled to Sea World San Diego and spent a day working hands-on with their trainers to learn it first-hand (great program - TFD - Trainer for the Day also highly recommended).

The book is a nice quick read and you may find yourself reading it several times it is so compelling. It is good addition to one's personal library as I have referred back to it a number of times as I have had to deal with difficult co-workers, working with challenging children, etc.

Enjoy this book and apply its simple principles in your life!

Easy read, but got all I needed from chapter two. (I did read the whole book.) All these books are overpriced, so if your interested go to your library and check it out. If your short on time, just read chapter 2.

However with that said, the information is solid and helpful.

This book was so good that I bought it as a gift for a client as well as the principal of my childrens' school. Worth reading multiple times.

Let's break the book down into two halves: the message and the writing. The message is great, and genuinely insightful, particularly in some of the subtleties of how one builds a positive relationship (rewarding progress, rather than just acheivement) and smart ways to do rewards.

The writing, though, is a different story. Like so many management books often do, it tries to reveal this information as a parable, by telling you the story of foul-mannered Wes Kingsley finding his guru at SeaWorld. The writing is unabashedly corny, and tiring, particularly with its relentless use of GOTcha (sic) and WHALE DONE (sic). I have found that I can relate the entire useful content of the book in a 5-10 minute conversation, and so, that makes the actual size of the book seem unnecessary. The upside is that print is large, and the writing is breezy, and the book reads very quickly. Think of it as the Cheerios of books: bland but easily digested.

Having read much stronger books that use this sort of presentation (Goldratt's "The Goal" comes to mind) I would not readily recommend this book, except that the concepts contained within are original, and useful. I think that there are other concepts from animal training that could have been integrated to improve the book, but as it stands, it is a tolerable and useful read. An abridged version with less of the overwrought story would be a very strong work.

Have you actually wondered how they get those huge whales to jump out of the water at Sea World or Marine Land? This book can be used to train animals, family, workers in how to use positive praise to get what you want. It's not a gimmick, but giving praise to encourage better performance and not just when a good performance is seen but a way of life, a value system. A great book!!

Orlando Sea World's killer whales are a source of inspiration in this book, which seeks to help you build up your relationships.

Most of us read anecdotes and examples about how people, who are paragon of virtues, perform to meet other people's expectations and go beyond it. This gives us hope and inspiration. What I found interesting about this book was that the inspiration came from an unlikely source - the killer whales of the Orlando SeaWorld.

The key concept being that the more attention you pay to a behavior, the more it will be repeated. Another concept the book emphasized was of re-channeling energies on the positive and away from the negative. Redirection is the most effective way to address undesirable behavior. It gets a person back on track almost immediately and works in ninety-nine percent of the cases where we might be tempted to use a Negative Response. I find more resonance with this quote after reading this book - "If you give as much energies to you dreams as you do to your fears, miracles start to happen".

Most of us read anecdotes and examples about how people, who are paragon of virtues, perform to meet other people's expectations and go beyond it. This gives us hope and inspiration. What I found interesting about this book was that the inspiration came from an unlikely source - the killer whales of the Orlando SeaWorld.

The key concept being that the more attention you pay to a behavior, the more it will be repeated. Another concept the book emphasized was of re-channeling energies on the positive and away from the negative. Redirection is the most effective way to address undesirable behavior. It gets a person back on track almost immediately and works in ninety-nine percent of the cases where we might be tempted to use a Negative Response. I find more resonance with this quote after reading this book - "If you give as much energies to you dreams as you do to your fears, miracles start to happen".

This book was a fast and easy read...it was over before I knew it! My boss has started a book a month club for us and this was one of the required reading. At first I was reluctant because I thought it might be boring but I was severely mistaken in that assumption. We have begun applying the positive relationship building in our office and this method described in the text can be applied at home and in every day encounters with people as well. I can really see a difference in my co-workers as well as in my children and just the people I run into each day. For example: I go to Starbucks every morning for my weekly Frappuccino treat and they know me by name. Today I ran into one of the elderly employees there and she was frustrated because she was having trouble getting the new cash register to read her fingerprint to sign in and she could not remember how to make my drink. I simply explained that when she made the drink I knew it would be extra delicious because I was made to wait and would enjoy it more and that I really was not in any big hurry, my work would understand (we are after all focusing on the positive now. :-)). She relaxed, remembered how to prepare the drink and was able to summon another employee to help her sign into her register. She was suddenly smiling and seemed to be much happier. Rather than focusing on the negative setbacks I redirected her to the positive and you could see the difference it made in her over all performance as well as the beginning of her morning. :-) Whale done is awesome! I would recommend it to anyone wishing to put a more positive spin on life!

I have been using positive reinforcement with my sales team for years. I was fortunate to have worked closely with people like Napolean Hill, Norman Vincent Peale, Earl Nightingale, W. Clement Store and Dr. Blanchard himself. The concept works. As one company's manager put it, if you are in a tank with a killer whale would you rather treat him nice or slap him on the nose and have him attack you back? I shared this book with many of my co-workers and helped them understand how I was managing my team. Recently one of those very killer whales at Sea World in San Diego attacked his trainer, despite all the positive reinforcement. That is a very important lesson for anyone reading Dr. Blanchard's book. He writes theory. In real life not everone will respond to theories. Whatever Dr. Blanchard tells us there are times you are going to end up slapping the whale on the nose and, instead of saying "Whale Done" you'll be yelling "Get your frigging jaws off my bleeding leg". Read the book, Amazon sells it cheap it it's an easy, fast read.

This was the third Blanchard book that I have read and so far it is my favorite. The fact that I was staying in Orlando right next to Sea World when I started reading it was a total coincidence, but it made some of the elements of the story really come alive for me. The ideas expressed here can apply to anyone or everyone, not just a manager of some business firm. Although, I have to admit that like many of Blanchard's books it was a little predictable and felt a little pollyannaish.

The story starts off with a character named Wes Kingsley, visiting the Shamu Killer Whale show at Sea World and thinking, "How do they get a ten-thousand pound creature with rows of two-inch razor sharp teeth to do all of those `tricks'"? Certainly, they cannot punish it, or get it to do those things out of fear. Plus, from the look of things, both the "trainers" and the whales seemed to really be enjoying themselves...

Wes stayed after the show and wandered around to find someone to talk to about it. He met Dave Yardley, the head of the killer whale program at Sea World, and learned that the first step is to build trust with the whale and that the process of building trust can take a lot of time. During this time, they make a concerted effort to accentuate the positive. The more attention you give to a behavior, the more it is repeated, even if is negative attention. So they ignore undesirable behavior and reward the desired behavior. In addition to not giving any attention to the unwanted actions, they re-direct or re-channel the energies, either to try again or to a totally different behavior (possibly one that they already know how to do) in order to have a new opportunity to catch them doing something right and give them a reward. Rewards, by the way, aren't always food, or we would have 15,000 pound whales instead of 10,000 pound whales, they also include touching and rubbing. Rewards for people in business or at home don't always have to be monetary; they can be time, new responsibilities, or even words of affirmation and praise.

Dave put Wes in touch with Annemarie Butler, a business leader who uses the same principles in business. Wes went to listen to Annemarie give a little talk about using these ideas in relationships with people. Whether you are managing a business or a home, the way that you deal with people is very much the same. You need to motivate, focus on the positives, and treat people as very important. (example of greeting a long lost friend).

Annemarie listed the ABC's of performance management. "A" is for Activator. Goals are good activators, but make sure you have the same goals as your followers; set goals with your people, not for them. "B" is for behavior or the performance. Then observe close enough to see that the goals are being worked on. "C" is for consequence, or how you respond to the behavior. (and this is where the big stuff comes in). There are four types of responses: 1) no response - usually what happen when someone has done what they should, 2) a negative response - usually what happens when they don't, 3) a re-direction (see below) or a positive response. (see below).

The redirection is what the trainers at Sea World talked about. It is going back to try again or totally changing the behavior in a chance to catch them doing something right. It gets the person back on track without a negative response. The re-direction describes the problem without blame or puts the blame on you for not being clear enough in the first place and then shows them how to do it properly.

The real heart of the story is the positive response, giving praise or a reward for doing things right. In the beginning, you might even need to "set up" situations in order to find things that the person can do well, and then reward them for. You also need to "praise progress, it's a moving target". If you praise little steps along the way it will inspire the person to make it to the end of a big task.

It's much easier to catch people doing wrong than it is to catch them doing right. You have to change what you are looking for. It takes some effort. A "gotcha" response is catching someone doing wrong, but a "whale done" response is catching someone doing something right. You might give lots of "atta boys" along the way, but a full blown "Whale Done" response includes, 1) praise immediately, 2) being specific about what they did right, 3) share the practice with others, and 4) encourage them to continue.

What about unacceptable behavior? If the re-direction doesn't work, and you can't ignore the unacceptable behavior, then you need to let the person know that their behavior is unacceptable, but affirm the person, just not the behavior. Also if you have been practicing the whale done method you should have lots of "positives" in the bank so a little constructive criticism shouldn't be a problem.

The idea of rewards for positive actions and re-direction for non-desired behaviors builds the positive relationship. However, the real power of the whale done method comes when people start to catch themselves doing right, and becoming self motivated to continue. When the relationships are good (and sometimes even fun), your people are motivated and your business usually will be more successful. Companies who have used the whale done approach have seen an increase in their "bottom line". As a manager, you need to look for ways to motivate people on both the short term and long term basis. Since not everyone has the same needs and desires, talk to them and find out what they think would be the best type of reward (for some it might be time, for others money, or recognition). Finally, don't do any of it insincerely; people will know when you are just trying to manipulate them.

As for the rest of the story... Wes implemented the whale done approach at work and as his staff realized that he was sincere, they slowly bought in. His boss questioned his approach as going "soft" but when his numbers picked up and even the "trouble-makers" came on board the boss was won over. Wes also used the whale done approach at home, between himself and his wife, as well as between both parents and kids with amazing success (success being measured in calls from other parents asking why their kids always wanted to be over at the Kingsley house).

Overall the message of accentuating the positives in the people with whom you have important relationships with is really good. I think anyone could benefit from implementing these ideas at work or at home. However, I think that it would take a lot more effort that the book leads you to believe, but then, nothing worthwhile is ever easy is it?

This was the third Blanchard book that I have read and so far it is my favorite. The fact that I was staying in Orlando right next to Sea World when I started reading it was a total coincidence, but it made some of the elements of the story really come alive for me. The ideas expressed here can apply to anyone or everyone, not just a manager of some business firm. Although, I have to admit that like many of Blanchard's books it was a little predictable and felt a little pollyannaish.

The story starts off with a character named Wes Kingsley, visiting the Shamu Killer Whale show at Sea World and thinking, "How do they get a ten-thousand pound creature with rows of two-inch razor sharp teeth to do all of those `tricks'"? Certainly, they cannot punish it, or get it to do those things out of fear. Plus, from the look of things, both the "trainers" and the whales seemed to really be enjoying themselves...

Wes stayed after the show and wandered around to find someone to talk to about it. He met Dave Yardley, the head of the killer whale program at Sea World, and learned that the first step is to build trust with the whale and that the process of building trust can take a lot of time. During this time, they make a concerted effort to accentuate the positive. The more attention you give to a behavior, the more it is repeated, even if is negative attention. So they ignore undesirable behavior and reward the desired behavior. In addition to not giving any attention to the unwanted actions, they re-direct or re-channel the energies, either to try again or to a totally different behavior (possibly one that they already know how to do) in order to have a new opportunity to catch them doing something right and give them a reward. Rewards, by the way, aren't always food, or we would have 15,000 pound whales instead of 10,000 pound whales, they also include touching and rubbing. Rewards for people in business or at home don't always have to be monetary; they can be time, new responsibilities, or even words of affirmation and praise.

Dave put Wes in touch with Annemarie Butler, a business leader who uses the same principles in business. Wes went to listen to Annemarie give a little talk about using these ideas in relationships with people. Whether you are managing a business or a home, the way that you deal with people is very much the same. You need to motivate, focus on the positives, and treat people as very important. (example of greeting a long lost friend).

Annemarie listed the ABC's of performance management. "A" is for Activator. Goals are good activators, but make sure you have the same goals as your followers; set goals with your people, not for them. "B" is for behavior or the performance. Then observe close enough to see that the goals are being worked on. "C" is for consequence, or how you respond to the behavior. (and this is where the big stuff comes in). There are four types of responses: 1) no response - usually what happen when someone has done what they should, 2) a negative response - usually what happens when they don't, 3) a re-direction (see below) or a positive response. (see below).

The redirection is what the trainers at Sea World talked about. It is going back to try again or totally changing the behavior in a chance to catch them doing something right. It gets the person back on track without a negative response. The re-direction describes the problem without blame or puts the blame on you for not being clear enough in the first place and then shows them how to do it properly.

The real heart of the story is the positive response, giving praise or a reward for doing things right. In the beginning, you might even need to "set up" situations in order to find things that the person can do well, and then reward them for. You also need to "praise progress, it's a moving target". If you praise little steps along the way it will inspire the person to make it to the end of a big task.

It's much easier to catch people doing wrong than it is to catch them doing right. You have to change what you are looking for. It takes some effort. A "gotcha" response is catching someone doing wrong, but a "whale done" response is catching someone doing something right. You might give lots of "atta boys" along the way, but a full blown "Whale Done" response includes, 1) praise immediately, 2) being specific about what they did right, 3) share the practice with others, and 4) encourage them to continue.

What about unacceptable behavior? If the re-direction doesn't work, and you can't ignore the unacceptable behavior, then you need to let the person know that their behavior is unacceptable, but affirm the person, just not the behavior. Also if you have been practicing the whale done method you should have lots of "positives" in the bank so a little constructive criticism shouldn't be a problem.

The idea of rewards for positive actions and re-direction for non-desired behaviors builds the positive relationship. However, the real power of the whale done method comes when people start to catch themselves doing right, and becoming self motivated to continue. When the relationships are good (and sometimes even fun), your people are motivated and your business usually will be more successful. Companies who have used the whale done approach have seen an increase in their "bottom line". As a manager, you need to look for ways to motivate people on both the short term and long term basis. Since not everyone has the same needs and desires, talk to them and find out what they think would be the best type of reward (for some it might be time, for others money, or recognition). Finally, don't do any of it insincerely; people will know when you are just trying to manipulate them.

As for the rest of the story... Wes implemented the whale done approach at work and as his staff realized that he was sincere, they slowly bought in. His boss questioned his approach as going "soft" but when his numbers picked up and even the "trouble-makers" came on board the boss was won over. Wes also used the whale done approach at home, between himself and his wife, as well as between both parents and kids with amazing success (success being measured in calls from other parents asking why their kids always wanted to be over at the Kingsley house).

Overall the message of accentuating the positives in the people with whom you have important relationships with is really good. I think anyone could benefit from implementing these ideas at work or at home. However, I think that it would take a lot more effort that the book leads you to believe, but then, nothing worthwhile is ever easy is it?

"To meet by reaction that danger of radicalism is to invite disaster. Reaction is no barrier to the radical. It is a challenge, a provocation. The way to meet that danger is to offer a workable program of reconstruction, and the Party to offer it is the party with clean hands.

This, and this only is a proper protection against blind reaction on the one hand and an improvised hit-or-miss, irresponsible opportunism on the other."

These are the words of our great 32nd President as he ran for his first term--reflecting on the challenges facing his nation. These words also dove-tail nicely with the message of Whale Done.

I should know. I work with kids.

Creating a culture of catching people doing things right--of accentuating the positive and redirecting--is not only transformative, but the right thing to do.

I offer no warrant for this last claim other than the most convincing to my mind: experience.

I have seen some of my most difficult relationships with the kids I work with change and blossom due to the use of principles in this book.

Our focus--where we place our thoughts and energy--influences our anticipation and action. Reaction in a negative form only provokes, keeps us mired in cycles of unwanted results, and fosters unhealthy relationships.

Redirection: a workable process, an artform really, provides a constant "out" towards something better for all parties.

Read this book!

Thank you Mr. Blanchard and company for a valuable lesson told creatively through story. You have played a part in changed lives. Whale Done!

Have you ever taken a look at the reviews on Amazon? The ones that said they were most helpful were the positives. All of us seek the good, we seek a better place, the POWER of positive in our life. Read a book with positive all over it.

Ken Blanchard has always remained the 'Best Pick' in my Library shelf. 'Whale Done' has life techniques to master with wise advice from the author of 'One Minute Manager'. Appreciate or rathar call 'Praise everyone' with motivation and inspiration is an essential tip of the book. The skills of a five ton killer whale trainer has effective results at work place and home. The trainers are responsible for the most feared predators in the ocean, to perform amazing acrobatic leaps and dives.They build the trust, show care and warmth and 'Whale Done' - Make the positive, impossible of impossible and catching doing the thing right.The same logic applies to humans surrounding to catch them doing wrong and making them doing the right - to be better parents, better spouses, better managers, whatever. The businessman of the book Wes Kingley discusses with the whale trainers who reveal the secrets who have a whale way out and this is the unique theme using whale techniques setting up discipline and praising with 'Whale Done...Keep it up' or rathar motivate, inspire, encourage and activate - I would say, humans are much easier to get trained than these Whales through the Ken Blanchard techniques. Ignoring never works when catching not doing the right thing but redirection always bring forth the positive results. This rule applies for kids too and as parents, they can guide the kids by not saying 'Don't do' but redirecting with love and warmth. A very easy, quick read book that builds positive relationships. Good Read.

-ilaxi

First off, the book is OK and stresses being positive and looking for those positives in your daily life. Great! I am a believer and the book reminded me that we should work a little harder to practice the positive at home, work, and in almost everything that we do.
With that said - so what? Most people instinctively know this stuff but cannot find a practical use for it in such a simplistic manner. After all what am I supposed to say when an unthinking employee, just contstantly forgets a task that I have assigned? "Whale Done Joe! - you have blown off that same task for the 4th day in the row now - I AM REALLY IMPRESSED THAT YOU STILL WORK HERE????" Give me a break. Blanchard would never have got this book in print if it were not for his earlier book successes. Spend an hour in the corner of the library and consume this thing if you must, but remember to only think 'good thoughts' even if you feel your time could have been better spent reading the Sunday comics.

I feel extremely grateful to the authors of this book for writing this gem.

I am an Elementary School Teacher, and I was handed a very difficult class to manage. The children in this class came from homes with poor parental support, and they had poor social skills causing them to constantly pick fights with each other.

I tried using the disciplinarian manner of dealing with them. It just didn't work. They were already so jaded and used to being punished that to them it didn't matter one bit at all. In fact, it only served to make them even more defiant.

Then, I happened to chance upon this book. When I read this book, I could instantly link the ideas of positive relationship to William Glasser's Choice Theory - where positive discipline is emphasised. They are really very complementary.

When I tried using just Choice Theory alone, it didn't quite work. But when I used Whale Done together with Choice Theory, it took me just two days and the class became much more well behaved and cooperative. It was too amazing for me to believe that it was happening! But really, seeing is believing...

I think for people who have given poor ratings to this book, it's probably because the book hasn't given very clear instructions with regards to how to redirect the undesirable behaviour appropriately. If you can't figure out how to redirect, it is a sure thing that the Whale Done method will fail hopelessly.

If you really wish to give positive relationships a shot, try this:
Read William Glasser's Choice Theory first.
Then, read Whale Done.
Finally, use the Whale Done method, coupled with using Choice Theory as the basis for all redirections.

And very importantly...never give up! It is sincerely a very trying process in the beginning especially when you do not witness immediate changes. But be patient and push through with both the Whale Done method and Choice Theory, and you'll be able to enjoy better positive relationships around you.

"Whale Done!" was recommended to me in a setting where its principles had been badly needed, had been applied and had proven quite helpful. Nevertheless, as I read, I couldn't help but think that I had been taught about positive reinforcement decades ago - it's not a new psychosocial concept.

The catchy title quickly makes sense as the extended example, illustrating the ideas of rewarding desired behavior and ignoring undesirable behavior, unfolds. Mr. Blanchard tells a simple story about his own transformation from a grouchy husband, father, and boss to a genuinely humble, thankful and encouraging person - and the effect it had on his relationships. The author does an admirable job describing the various emotions he and the other characters experienced in their interactions, both before and after he employs what he learned by observing the Sea World whales being trained. Before you know it, all negatives are swept away and everybody's happy.

This is a lightweight book. It's a short book. And it's a quick read. If you find yourself habitually mistreating those around you, you might want this swift refresher course to get you back on track. If not, you might want to spend your time and money on something else.

This book is a great reminder that we all need to look for the positive in our relationships and be more encouraging. It also gives excellent examples of how to do so. The major problem I had with this book, however, is that people are not WHALES and we are not training them to jump through hoops. The book advises that you do one of three things when dealing with other people. 1. No response, 2. Redirection, 3. Positive Response. Negative responses are not advised. The theory is that if someone is doing something WRONG and they are redirected or ignored and praised when doing something RIGHT they will be encouraged to do the right thing more often. This makes sense. However, when training whales you are trying to make them DO something. But what happens if you are trying to make them STOP doing something? Sure, this might work great when trying to get your kids to clean their rooms or an employer to hand in their work more promptly. But what if you are trying to get your kids to STOP jumping on the bed or dumping spaghetti on their heads? I can tell you as a mother of three that ignoring is NOT going to work, and redirection will only work if you can find something more fun to direct their attention toward. And after all, what is more fun than dumping spaghetti in your hair? This is a great book for anyone wanting to know more about how they can improve their relationships with people. But it shouldn't be considered the rule in managing people.

"Whale Done!: The Power of Positive Relationships" by Ken Blanchard talks about the importance of building trust, accentuating the positive side of things and redirecting the energy when mistakes are made. According to Blanchard, it is crucial to provide recognition appropriately to either co-workers or family members. He uses the example of training the killer whale, Shamu at the SeaWorld. When it comes to training killer whales, trainers have to reward the whales when they do something right to reinforce the same behaviors and that it is basically useless to punish killer whales if they make mistakes.

I think this is an okay read because there are basically nothing new here. However, I do like the "training of killer whales" illustrations that help to reinforce what Blanchard is saying - rewarding animals/people appropriately. Like a few reviewers here, I do prefer "Who Moved My Cheese?" and "Fish!" better. I also agree that some of the lines in "Whale Done!" are sort of cheesy. It's basically an okay read.

Ken Blanchard of One-Minute Manager fame draws on the positive training techniques that SeaWorld whale trainers use to get their whales to want to perform. Although using whale training as a teaching model is a unique twist on the literature about training and motivating employees, the material itself is not nearly as exotic. Much of it draws upon traditional principles for getting along with others, such as building trust, emphasizing the positive and redirecting undesired actions into more productive channels. If you've read Blanchard's previous book about being aware when people do something right so you can praise them, some of this content will seem familiar, though he says this is his "most important" book. The story line tracks mythical businessman Wes Kingley's discussions with whale trainers who reveal what they do to train their creatures, gradually, carefully and with real warmth. These conversations blow some very basic points up to whale-size, but Blanchard writes with charm. We recommend this splashy manual, the first course in Whale Psyc 101.

Written as a fictional story with unnatural dialogue, very simplistic message, does not even scratch the surface of human motivation. Nothing new here, this would not even be noticed as an article by a popular magazine. A typical example of low content book that is no more than a streched and pumped-up 4-page article. Nuff said. Leave on the shelves.

To you if you've picked up a copy of Ken Blanchard's book. It could be the first step toward improving your relationships both at work and at home.

Ken demonstrates how the concepts used by trainers at Sea World-build trust, accentuate the positive and, when mistakes occur, redirect the energy-can be utilized to improve our relationships-both personal and professional-and become more productive while doing it.

When Wes Kingsley opted for a trip to Sea World rather than one of the other activities offered during his business conference, he had no idea how educated he'd become. He sat in awe as he witnessed such incredible performances by these killer whales. He was so intrigued that, following the show he sought out the chief trainer, Dave Yardley, to find out exactly how he got these animals to do such amazing performances.

Dave told him how they have to build trust with the whales-you don't want to get in the water with these killers! You have to be sincere and honest, and your motives may be questioned initially depending on the relationship you're trying to repair or improve. This will take some time. Be patient! Next, he told him how and why they pay a lot of attention to what the whale does correctly. Progress is constantly being noticed, acknowledged and rewarded. The more you pay attention to what people are doing right, the more that behavior will be repeated. Even if things aren't exactly right, praise progress, set them up for success and build from there, or accentuate the positive. And, when the whale doesn't perform his task correctly, they immediately redirect his behavior elsewhere. You have to focus on the behavior and not the person. When a good performance is followed by something positive, naturally people want to continue that behavior.

In Whale Done! Ken does an incredible job in showing how simplistic his concepts are, and how readily they can be applied both at work and at home.

Here we go again; more canned material from Ken Blanchard that involves characters who are stale and annoying, advice that is common sense and recycled, and a catch phrase that would get anyone laughed out of their office. Whale Done! is a waste of time.

Here is my advice pertaining to Ken Blanchard books: Read The One Minute Manager if you feel insatiably curious about how a guy can write some 30 books with cheesy titles and make people think he's a leadership genius. Then, assume you've read all 29 other books. Because they're practially clones of each other.

I should get more specific; I'm sounding more mean-spirited than critical. For one thing, Blanchard's books average a retail price of $20. Now I know that nowadays you should never actually pay retail, but they're still expensive without merit. For another, with a size 20 font size, it takes more time for me to read "Elmo Bakes a Cake" to my seven month old son than it does to whisk through an entire Blanchard book while I'm on my coffee break. The scant material, supplemented by its triviality, comes nowhere close to justifying the cost.

And by the way, if you're so relationally inept that you think reading a Blanchard book on relationships is going to turn you into Mr. Congeniality, spend your money elsewhere. If, by the end of the book, you think people are going to champion your leadership because you say to them, "WHALE DONE!" you obviously assassinated the former executive to get where you are.

Finally, Blanchard's characters exist nowhere within the known world we call earth. The way his characters talk with each other is as unrealistic and shallow as a third-grade reader. Just reading the conclusion of the speech Wes' mentor gives in Whale Done made me long for something more intellectually stimulating...like Madamoiselle for Teens or Cadavers Today.

You could trip over a newspaper and get a better idea of reality than by reading Whale Done. Don't waste your time with this book. If you're going to read in hopes of improving your relationships with subordinates, actually read. Read something that requires a bit of heavy lifting like Kouzes and Posner's The Leadership Challenge. The only extra expense will involve your time. But if it came down to reading Whale Done and watching two hours of televangelism through static...