Скачать или смотреть Humor That Works, Humor That Doesn't Work

Humor That Works, Humor That Doesn't Work. So what is humor that works in a professional, workplace setting? And what happens if my humor doesn't work? Michael Kerr, President of Humor at Work offers some thoughts on what makes humor work, and what doesn't. As a funny motivational speaker, Michael has loads of experience with humor that works, and, occasionally, too often, humor that doesn't! For more insights on using humor, adding humor into your workplace, and on creating a truly inspiring workplace culture, visit www.HumoratWork.com and check out Michael's latest book, The Humor Advantage, at www.TheHumorAdvantage.com.

Video Transcript:

I want to talk about humor that works and humor that doesn't work in a professional setting.

Very often, people will ask me, "What happens if my humor doesn't work at work? What happens if I say something funny in a business presentation in a meeting and nobody laughs?" To which I respond, "Have you been to one of my talks?" Because even as a very experienced international business speaker who is known as a very, very funny speaker, I got to tell you, there are very oftentimes when my humor falls flat and I bomb or I say something that I think in my own mind is pretty darn funny, it's hysterical, and yet I say it out loud, nothing, zilch, crickets. It just lays there like a Saskatchewan pancake or I riff off of something somebody says in the audience, I just ad-lib thinking I'm being very funny and witty and again, nothing, zilch, zippo, crickets. It happens. It happens to the best of us. It happens to professional comedians. Even experienced comedians with decades under their belt still keep an arsenal of humor recovery comeback lines because they know that with a certain audience or a new joke that they're trying out, it may fall flat, so even comedians aren't going to get it right all the time. How can us mere mortals be expected to get it right?

Don't think about it in terms of it working or getting right. In fact, here's my first advice. Don't even think about it in terms of trying to be funny. Don't try to be funny. That I think is when we can create some painful cringe inducing moments. Instead of trying to be funny, just try to be yourself. Just be your natural, spontaneous self. Instead of trying to be funny, try to do things in a spirit of fun. I think that's far more important, subtle difference, but way more important.

Humor that works in my mind, especially in a workplace setting is of course humor that laughs with people not at people, humor that comes from the heart, that doesn't disparage other people, that doesn't hurt other people. Humor that works is humor that supports the creative process, creative brainstorming, not humor that laughs at other people's ideas and suggestions. Humor that works is humor that stays away from political, religious, sexist kind of humor. Remember, you're at work not at a night club.

Humor that works is humor especially that laughs at yourself. If you laugh at yourself, then you'll take away anybody's ability to laugh at you because you beat them to the punchline. Now, not in a put down kind of way, but still in a positive way. If you can laugh at those bloopers that we all make, laugh at those moments of humanity, then of course it's going to be humor that works. I would argue that even humor that doesn't generate a laugh is humor that works, because humor that doesn't generate a laugh, and I know from experience, keeps us humble. It keeps us real. It reminds us of our imperfections.

That is what humor is all about. That is humor that works.