Long before I had a career and ever since I have lived by the following rule.
Whatever information, knowledge or even wisdom you are looking to teach, share or impart, whether as official teacher, mentoring manager, friend or just interested party, is more likely to be absorbed if you follow this advice.
“People learn more when they are laughing.” –Confucius
In a world that constantly chatters about the importance of authenticity what’s a good recipe for staying authentic and enjoying a high level of creative freedom while making a giant difference by shaking up the establishment and still be able to pay the bills?
Ingredients
A group comedic actors, scriptwriters and directors in their 20s to late 30s
Add a wicked, satirical edge.
Mix well.
Post on your own YouTube channel.
Watch the money and changes roll in, although the money comes faster.
(Be sure to turn on Closed Captioning if you aren’t fully bilingual in Spanish.)
Any question why more than five million people have watched this?
Going viral is every marketer’s goal, especially entrepreneurs with a new product/service/experience that needs to rise above the noise in order to be noticed.
Going viral requires some luck, as do most successes, even if it’s the serendipitous kind (right time/right place), but it’s mostly method, as discussed previously.
Research by Thales S. Teixeira, an assistant professor in marketing at HBS, identified “four key steps: attracting viewers’ attention, retaining that attention, getting viewers to share the ad with others, and persuading viewers.”
“The challenge lies in getting the best mix of all four ingredients and baking them into your ad.”
Read the article if you’re planning any kind of video/social media campaign; Teixeira’s insights and explanations will give you a much better shot at that success.
One of the problems is that entrepreneurs are so enamored with their products that they want to tell the world about it, so the world will love it, too.
But in a time of instant information availability and short attention spans, the world doesn’t care much about your product—it wants first and foremost to be entertained.
The research shows that if sharing an ad will somehow benefit the sender as much as it helps the advertiser, then the ad might go viral.
Things that tickle your funny-bone or touch your heart are always shared faster and longer than product facts.
Laughing at yourself is often not high on entrepreneurs list of life skills, but it’s an important one to learn.
It used to be called “standing on your dignity;” I’ve written about getting off it before, but these days it seems there are more people standing on theirs.
There is a major difference between being laughed at and doing the laughing.
It’s an age-old dichotomy.
If someone else slips on a banana peel it’s hilarious (think AFV), but if “I” slip it’s harder to see the humor.
This is especially true when the venue moves to the workplace.
“I” may find it pretty funny if a colleague sticks his metaphoric foot in it, but those feelings are different if it’s “my” foot.
Whether you’re afraid of losing respect, like my client in the post referenced above, angry, or just plain embarrassed, learning to laugh is the best solution.
Laughter defuses anger and nullifies embarrassment; as to respect, the ability to laugh at oneself increases it.
If you’re the boss, it makes you more approachable, builds trust and has a strong motivational factor.
Laughter offers major health benefits and being able to laugh at yourself, whether in public or in private, means you will always be entertained.
What it comes down to is that you can’t lose by learning to laugh at yourself.
Has ideology—management, political, religious—become so entrenched that people are losing their perspective?
99+% of the time you will be better served by sitting on your dignity than by standing on it.
Why?
Because you will learn far more sitting; people will talk to you for the simple reason of believing they will be heard.
Moreover, you will not come off as a pompous ass to your team, which, in the long run, will mean more creativity, higher productivity and less turnover providing you with better reviews, improved compensation, more opportunities, an enhanced career path and a happier life.
People look for business culture inspiration in many places, but sometimes the best is from an unexpected source. While there’s a waiting line for cultural help from Tony Hsieh, Robert Orben is still available and probably (maybe?) costs less.
Let’s start with the basics, because if you can’t get this one right there isn’t much hope, “If you can laugh together, you can work together”
Managers know that as resources are reduced it’s more and more difficult to get everything done. That said, it helps to remember this gem, “Time flies. It’s up to you to be the navigator.”
Orben had a wonderful take on failure, one that is sure to encourage your people, “Don’t think of it as failure. Think of it as time-released success.”
Here’s a little ditty should be chanted in unison at the start of every meting. I guarantee it will improve the participation and content no end, “Every speaker has a mouth; An arrangement rather neat. Sometimes it’s filled with wisdom. Sometimes it’s filled with feet.”
Some managers are good at stroking their people, some not so much. If voicing compliments is difficult for you remember this bit of wisdom might make it easier, “A compliment is verbal sunshine.”
Finally, when the deadlines loom and stress is rising it’s god to remind your team that they have choices, “In prehistoric times, mankind often had only two choices in crisis situations: fight or flee. In modern times, humor offers us a third alternative; fight, flee – or laugh.”
Like you, I’ve been through some pretty rough times. Inevitably, at some point during those dark days, several someones would ask what in the world I found amusing about the situation.
Little did they know I was unconsciously following one of my favorite rules.
Blessed are they that can laugh at themselves for they shall be forever amused.
Just a little FYI; if you’ve read many of my rules you might wonder how I remember them all. The answer is I don’t. What I do is practice them consciously long enough that they are my unconscious response to the appropriate stimulation.
Levity (not joke telling) increases happiness and happy employees are more productive, innovative and less likely to leave.
Today we’ll take a look at some fascinating “happy” research.
The NY Times runs an opinion column called Happy Days that posts thoughts, research and comments from professionals and regular folks. A recent post by Paul Bloom, a Yale professor of psychology caught my eye. In it he considers whether it is necessary to choose between being a “happy pig or sad Socrates,” in other words, is it necessary to choose between indulging yourself and being a good person. Be sure to check out the comments; they add some excellent thoughts.
Social scientists Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler are analyzing data from a study that has followed more than 15,000 Framingham residents and their descendants since it was 1948.
Their finding is that “good behaviors — like quitting smoking or staying slender or being happy — pass from friend to friend almost as if they were contagious viruses,” although not all experts agree.
Next week we’ll explore levity here at MAPpingCompanySuccess starting Monday with a review of the Levity Effect.
Please join us and add your thoughts on the subject.
Next up is a real treat and useful, too. I’ll bet that not even all my tech savvy readers know about some of these Google goodies; have fun, but don’t waste the entire weekend fooling with them.
Last up is a bit of laughter—or at least a few snickers. I hate 99% of the ads companies stick us with (I am so sick of being pitched illnesses and drugs) unlike the rest of the world who’s ads actually qualify as entertainment. But there is the other 1%, so that now and then we actually get a good commercial. The Layoff and the other four videosare definitely funny if you need a quick laugh. This isn’t an endorsement of the company—I have no knowledge of their products just their sense of humor.
Entrepreneurs face difficulties that are hard for most people to imagine, let alone understand. You can find anonymous help and connections that do understand at 7 cups of tea.
Crises never end.
$10 really does make a difference and you’ll never miss it,
Laughing at yourself is often not high on entrepreneurs list of life skills, but it’s an important one to learn.
A few years ago I share how a manager turned his organization around by 
People look for business culture inspiration in many places, but sometimes the best is from an unexpected source. While there’s a waiting line for cultural help from Tony Hsieh, 
Levity (not joke telling) increases happiness and happy employees are more productive, innovative and less likely to leave.
Do you like puzzles? Author Michael Brooks shows you 
