The Fish! Philosophy is used in schools (mostly in the US) to build supportive relationships between teachers and students and to help students practice personal responsibility. It helps create a positive learning environment for everyone. Many educators think it sparks creativity.

Fish! (let's leave the philosophy bit out for a moment) has four main ideas

• play - tap into your natural way of being creative, enthusiastic and having fun. Play is the spirit that drives the curious mind, as in “Let’s play with that idea!” You can bring this mindset to everything you do
• be there - be emotionally present for people. It’s a powerful message of respect that improves communication and strengthens relationships
• make someone's day - find simple ways to help or delight people in a meaningful, memorable way. It’s about contributing to someone else’s life—not because you want something, but because that’s the person you want to be.
• choose your attitude - take responsibility for how you respond to what life throws at you. Your choice affects others. Ask yourself: 'Is my attitude helping my team or my friends? Is it helping me to be the person I want to be'

Challenge : say 'Fish! Philosophy' three times, quickly !

STEP should be a part of everyone's mental toolkit.

Originally used to help with 'conflict resolution', Ninjas have also used it to design robots, invent new ideas and fix all sorts of problems with people, software and machines.