How the Paper Fish Learned to Swim: A Fable About Inspiring Creativity And Bringing New Ideas to Life

By Jonathon A. Flaum

Book Overview

"Illustrations by Raina Bays In a remote fishing village in Japan, an origami master named Daishinji creates a beautiful fish from one flat sheet of paper. But the fish says he is lonely, so Daishinji... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0814408885
• ISBN13: 9780814408889
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Amacom Books
• Length: 146 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.8" x 0.8" x 5.8"
• Age Range: 17 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

Using a Parable to illustrate the process of innovation

In the book, Jonathon builds the story by illustrating a parable of Origami master and her creation, the Paper fish that learns to swim. Using this parable, Jonathon attempts to illustrate the `process' of innovation. I particularly found the case study on the small-town Newspaper, Maple, intriguing. How it is trying to innovate to remain relevant in the digital world. However, I come away with a feeling that the author seems to be trivializing the dynamics of innovation. Extending the case-study in the book: if it were as simple to emulate the success of Maple, local Newspapers and media chains across America and elsewhere wouldn't be struggling. They would just pick a lesson out of Maple's success story. Note to self: Not all Paper Fish, even those created by skillful Origami masters CAN swim. But there again, if a Paper Fish's `time has come' ... maybe! Similarly, an `innovation' will succeed if its `time has come'?

How the Paper Fish Learned to Swim

An origami master in a remote Japanese fishing village creates designs so true to life that they could be real. From one such creation, a fish, the master learns an important lesson. The origami fish decides that he wants to be set free into the ocean with the other sea creatures. At first, the master is afraid for her creation, it will be destroyed as soon as it hits the water. Finally, she trusts her creation and is utterly surprised at the result. This analogy fits perfectly with ideas in the workplace. Often, we have these really great ideas but we never speak up. When we do actually put work into a actually creating an idea we never fully commit to the process and trust our vision. How the Paper Fish Learned to Swim is insightful and inspiring book for business. I particularly liked that each section was divided into In Principle and In Practice sub-sections that connect each idea with actual ways to use them in business. Some of the chapters also include The Case which gave a case study example of the principle in usage.