Home
	History
	EWI Member Firms
	Past Presidents
	Directors
	Committees
	Scholarships

 

BOOK REVIEW

"Whale Done!  The Power of Positive Relationships"
by:  Ken Blanchard; Thad Lacinak; Chuck Tompkins; Jim Ballard

Meet West Kingsley, a burned out sales manager, who "had come to Orlando to attend a business conference."  During a scheduled break, Wes decides to visit SeaWorld to "forget his troubles for a time."  It's a decision that will ultimately change his life - as a manager, husband and father - forever.

Whale Done!, the latest bestseller from Dr. Ken Blanchard, uses Wes's story to introduce a series of management techniques Blanchard himself learnedon a similar trip in 1976.  Already a proponent of positive reinforcement, Blanchard was amazed at how well the trainers at SeaWorld were able to get the killer whales to respond to commands and perform.  Later, he met the head trainer at SeaWorld's Orlando facility and struck up a friendship that has endured to this day.  That trainer, Chuck Tompkins is one of Blanchard's co-authors on the project.

In this story, Wes, too, is struck by the performance of the killer whales in the Shamu show and musters the courage to ask one of the trainers how they do it.  The Trainer explains the three-step process used to train the killer whales - building trust, accentuating the positive, and redirecting negative behavior.  He then puts Wes in contact with a motivational speaker who will ultimately become Wes's (and our) guide as he begins to implement the "whale done" techniques at work and home.

The "whale done" approach is all about positive reinforcement.  Many of us have been conditioned all our lives to offer feedback only when things are going wrong, and then only to criticize, Blanchard calls this the "GOTcha Response."  Instead, he says we should focus on trying to "catch" people doing something right and then respond immediately with a hearty "whale done!"

Though hardly new or revolutionary, the concise and readable way Blanchard presents his ideas - including techniques for redirecting negative behaviors - makes Whale Done! a good book for anybody interested in improving their relationships at work and in life.