Book Review

The Fearless Fish Out of Water –
How to Succeed When You’re The Only One Like You
By Robin Fisher Roffer
www.fearlessfishoutofwater.com
Paperback, $24.95

Reviewed by
Bill Willard

Almost everyone has a “fish-out-of-water” story to tell. A report in Parade Magazine, for instance, explains that the promotional tagline “Characters Welcome,” which airs during USA Network shows like Monk and Psych, signifies the network’s celebration of the undeniable appeal of distinctive, offbeat individuals. Characters on Mork and Psych are encouraged to share the joy enjoy in their “odditiesm,” according to the offbeat star of Monk, Tony Shalhoub.

The Fearless Fish Out of Water author, Robin Fisher Roffer, would clearly appreciate that view. An entertainment and media consultant, popular speaker on the business-meeting circuit, and CEO of Big Fish Marketing, Roffer knows how it feels to be a “fish out of water” in the office and other venues, and has made the very most of that condition. For like the folks at USA Network, instead of trying to swim with the current (going along to get along) Roffer has learned the value of doing things her way, wringing success from potential failure by “turning her uniqueness into an advantage.”

In fact, in Fearless she insists on it, chapter and verse!

Principles & Practices — Seven Career-Tested Steps

Drawing from her experiences as an Ohio Yankee attending college in southern-traditional Alabama and those of others, notably the Haitian-born senior vice president of Disney and ESPN Media Networks, Roffer’s The Fearless Fish Out of Water offers seven “career-tested steps” to help anyone with that left-out feeling–“Undervalued, unheard, ineffective, or misunderstood”–turn those personal lemons into lemonade.

Because the author is a branding consultant whose clients include such high-profile brands such as MTV, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, and NBC, it should not surprise readers that Fearless offers examples rooted in the entertainment industry–or that Roffer would identify with USA Network’s strategy of influencing the heart of the action while staking out a place out on the edges.

And would it surprise you to learn that Roffer’s Step 1 is “Finding and Accepting Yourself”? I thought not; because once you do that, others will follow. Other steps encourage risk-taking, open-mindedness and trusting one’s instincts—hardly the stuff of conformity.

Tools & Techniques – Fearless Fish Exercises

Fearless also offers a series of simple self-help exercises, tools and techniques readers can use to explore the things that are uniquely their own, and which make them stand out in the crowd, staying in the swim without putting themselves out of the mainstream. 

So whether you’re a female, a geek, a minority, an on-the-edge cable TV personality, or a freestyle entrepreneur—or all of those—Robin Roffer’s Fearless Fish Out of Water can help you understand and make the very most of who you are instead of trying to change who you are. Fact is, that can’t be done, and shouldn’t even be tried.

Bill Willard is a freelance writer and editor in Clearwater FL. He has been a high-impact writer and editor for over 30 years. He began his “faith journey” to Catholicism in 2008 at his wife, Sue’s urging. After putting up with him for 40 years, all she had to do was ask! Visit his Website: www.writergazette.com/WillardAssociates.shtml.

Or contact him at billw15@tampabay.rr.com to sign up for his popular eblog: Daily Grin.

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