Quick post today. I was invited to join LinkedIn’s new publishing platform.
You might be sick of hearing about it by now, but I used the opportunity to (re)post my op-ed about humor in organizations
Hope you like it (again). An excerpt:
Humor isn’t part of most mission statements. Organizations are busy with the serious challenges of trying to improve sales, service and innovation. Besides, being funny is risky. No one appreciates a poorly timed joke or the overactive “fun-gineer” blasting the office with cheesy motivational emails.
Yet CEOs, the same people who set the organization’s mission, tend to say that a sense of humor is among their most important traits. Dick Costolo’s wit was on full display a year before he became a CEO, when he tweeted, “First full day as Twitter COO tomorrow. Task #1: Undermine CEO, consolidate power.” Steve Jobs’ keynote launching the iPhone clocked in at .6 laughs per minute — not good enough for Letterman, but better than most new comics. And Warren Buffett often tempers bad news by sprinkling pithy one-liners into his interviews and investor letters (“You only find out who is swimming naked when the tide goes out”).
