Humor Power

Two years ago, I was meeting a friend for lunch at a cooking school in Las Vegas.  I knew the school was in a large complex of new office buildings, but didn’t know exactly where it was.  My first choice is always to ask for directions, so I stepped into the first office building I came to.  It was lunch time and there were about 20 people in the front office, coming and going.  The room was filled with laughter and happy faces.  It felt like a party was happening.  One of the people walked me outside pointed me to the cooking school which was about a block away.

The energy in that office made a lasting impression.  It turned out to be the Zappos.com headquarters.

Last week I had the opportunity to tour Zappos and meet CEO Tony Hsieh.  What an amazing company!  And Tony impressed me as an analytical person with a focus on long-term growth.  He cares about people.  Ideal qualities for a leader.

The tour was set up by Liz, who listed her job description as Time Ninja.  The web site referred to the people who work at Zappos as Zapponians.  I knew I was in for an interesting tour.

When I arrived for the tour, the front office was again filled with laughter and smiles.  It was obvious that people were enjoying their day.  The one-hour tour included all areas of the headquarters which is home to about 800 people.  Nearly everyone had their own cubicle, including CEO Tony.  No big fancy office for the Chief.  Each team’s area was decorated differently, from fantasy themes, to jungle themes, and other unique environments.  We walked by the “nap room” where two people were sound asleep.  In the lunch room I discovered there is such a thing as a free lunch.  It was a happy place to work.

In the front office I had noticed what appeared to be a mini book store. Personal development books, maybe forty titles, lined the shelves.  I asked Tony if it was a Lending Library.  He said, “No.  It’s a Giving library.  If someone sees a book which looks interesting, they’re welcome to take it.”  That includes employees and visitors!  Tony picked out three of his favorites and gave them to me to take home.

The corporate culture of Zappos has evolved over the past ten years to what it is today.  They now share with other companies how they can create a WOW customer experience.  Anyone can take a tour.  They make it easy.  It’s free.  They’ll even send a shuttle to pick you up at your hotel. In addition to their web sites, they offer workshops for other companies, sharing their success story.

Watch for Tony Hsieh’s book, Delivering Happiness, which is being released in June 2010.  It will give you great insight into the building of a unique and thriving company which went from zero to over one billion dollars in sales in less than ten years.  I’ve read an advance copy and I highly recommend the book.

I mentioned the tour to my mother while chatting on the phone.  Mom is a retired switchboard operator and former call center supervisor for Disney.  She is 85 years old and I wasn’t sure she would know the name Zappos.  But she did.  “I remember calling them.  It was one of the nicest experiences I’ve had.”

If only everyone we did business with was so nice!

Another year begins.  And with it comes New Years Resolutions. Here are a few you may consider adding to your list to help you tune your humor radar and exercise your sense of humor.

 1.  One of the challenges of a New Year’s Resolution is that the goal is so massive that you don’t know where to start.  As a result, you don’t!  You can solve that problem by breaking the resolution down in to smaller bites.  What is the First Step toward achieving that desired goal?

 2.  Enter one of our contests this month.  First Step:  Take just five minutes to look over the contest and write just ONE line. If you think it’s funny, submit it.  The current contest is to write a cartoon caption.

 3.  Load a funny message on your telephone answering device.  First Step: Read related article on humorous phone machine outgoing messages.   Related article.

4.  Every time you’re in a shopping mall, take a quick walk through a toy store.  It’s a good place to stimulate your funny bone.  First Step:  Ask the clerk, “What’s the most fun, new toy in the store?”

 5.  Hang around people that make you laugh.  First Step:  Select one toxic person in your life and resolve to spend a little less time with that person.  You become the people you hang out with.

6.  Start a humor journal.  Log the funny and nice things that happen to you.  You’ll start to see more fun in your life.  First Step:  Buy a notebook.  Label it Humor Journal.  Place it on the nightstand by your bed.

 7.  Smile at the first person you see in the morning and say something nice.  It gets you in the right frame of mind to enjoy the day.  First Step:  Before you leave your home, look in the mirror and smile at yourself.  Related article.

8.  Get your hands on a new humor book, tape or CD.  Spend a little time each day with it.  Do it as a morning exercise or meditation.  Play it while you are dressing for the day or driving to work.  First Step:  Spend ten minutes on www.Amazon.com with a search for Humor Books.

9.  Look for humor greeting cards, bumper stickers and T-Shirts.  Or make your own.  At past National Speakers Association conventions they featured an event called Meet the Experts.  It’s held in a room filled with over 100 tables.  With two or three rotations you sit at a table with an intimate presentation on a topic of interest.  I’ve often worn a T-Shirt designed just for that event:  “So Many Tables — So Little Time.”  First Step:  The next time you’re in a grocery or drug store, visit the humorous greeting card rack and spend three minutes browsing. 

10.  Join an improv troupe or start your own.  First Step:  Spend ten minutes in the phone book or on the internet to see where the nearest improv troupe or comedy club is located.  Related article. 

11.  Join a Toastmasters Club.  First Step:  Visit www.Toastmasters.org and find the clubs in your area.  If you already know where a club is, find an officer for that club and call that person.

12.  If you are already a Toastmaster, commit to competing in the Humorous Speech Contest next fall.  First Step:  Find a humor seed and start to collect ideas for your speech.

13.  Develop your skills in observational humor and learn from every professional performer you watch.  First Step:  At every meeting and program you attend, sit with pad and pen waiting to jot down humorous and learning connections you note.  Eventually you’ll have a chance to start using the skills in your own presentations.  Check out the dozens of Observational Humor case studies in the Humor Power Blog.

14.  First Step:  Pick at least ONE of the ideas listed above and do it in the next 24 hours!

Check out this fun arrangement of  The Twelve Days of Christmas, Straight No Chaser, Men’s A Capella, Indiana University.  Entertaining and very professionally done.  I heard about it from Loren Ekroth, Better Conversations Ezine.

Creativity and The New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest
Visit Keith Sawyer’s blog for a great article on humor and creativity.  He’s a creativity expert and interviewed winners of the New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest.

Contagious Laughter
Here’s something fun from Brad Montgomery.  He created a new app for the iPhone.  It’s a modern day Laugh Box.  Check out The Contagious Laughter iPhone app.

The Power of Observational Humor
The November 2009 issue of the Toastmaster magazine features an article, The Power of Observational Humor, by John Kinde.  The three-page article shows you the power of fresh humor and how to create it.

Improv comedy skills are not just for the stage.  The principles which make for great humor also apply to leadership skills and building strong relationships.  Let’s look at three areas where improv skills help us succeed with the challenges of life:  Energy, Creativity and Trust.

ENERGY:  As an improv player you need to energize yourself to be your best as a performer.  As a speaker you need to energize yourself to deliver your message from the platform.  As a leader you need to energize yourself and your team to be productive. 

We normally open each improv workshop, and warm-up before a show, with energy-building exercises.  Zip Zap Zop, Bunny, Whoosh Bang Pow, My Name is Joe…are examples of energy building exercises.  These exercises could also be used to open a staff meeting.  They build energy and are fun.  I’ve used exercises to warm myself up before a speech.  I remember doing My Name is Joe at 7:00 am in an empty hallway before a keynote speech.  It worked.  It warmed me up mentally and physically.  It energized me.

CREATIVITY:  Improv games are good for changing routine patterns, for breaking pre-occupation, and for stepping outside your comfort zones.  Improv can help us with the brain-storming process by helping us to suspend judgment and to accept different solutions.

Improv games help us focus on looking for connections and get our creative juices flowing.  Just as the key to humor is in the connections we make, the key to creative problem solving is also linked to seeing connections and approaches which give us fresh insights for solving problems.

TRUST:  Improv helps us to develop a sense of trust that our team is there to support us.  One of the guiding principles of improv is to accept all offers.  What that means is that when one improv player suggests something, the correct behavior is to accept the “gift” or the “offer” and to build on to it.  The principle is referred to as “Yes…And“.   The idea is to agree with what has been said, done or offered and then to add to it.  The reverse of this behavior is to say NO to an offer.  Also blocking an offer is the response of “Yes…But.”  Good improv players learn to accept what is offered by other members of the troupe.  This skill is valuable in the workplace too.  People are encouraged to contribute if they feel that their contributions will be accepted and valued. 

We need to have the mindset that we are always giving and receiving gifts.  We need to treat our fellow players and co-workers as though each one is a genius.  Look for what is right and good in each person you are dealing with.

An amazing thing I learned on the improv stage is that when you’re having a hard time working with a “difficult” player or team member…the problem isn’t them…it’s you.  I remember watching a seasoned player in the Santa Barbara improv troupe playing onstage with a novice player who was doing everything wrong (based on traditional improv rules).  His approach was to accept everything she was offering…and the result was a brilliant and very funny scene.  In one of our Santa Maria shows we hosted a guest player from Los Angeles, Dan O’Conner.  I remember a scene where he played with one of our players who would always do the unexpected.  Again he played Yes…And to the extreme, and the result was absolutely amazing. 

What I learned from these experiences is that whenever you are having difficulty playing with another player, perhaps one who doesn’t have the seasoned skills necessary to guarantee success…the problem is that YOU aren’t good enough to play with them.  The problem isn’t them.  The skilled player…the pro…brings out the best in others.  That’s a profound message.

Strong improv skills help you to bring out the best in others.  Consider this:  What would this world be like if everyone you dealt with was present with you, if everyone listened to you, if everyone treated you like you were a genius, if everyone agreed with you, if everyone trusted you?  And then consider, what would it be like if everyone you met experienced that kind of world because of you?  Apply the principles of improv and you can create that kind of world for you and for the people you meet.

Susan Boyle, age 47, took the stage at Britain’s Got Talent to sing I Dreamed a Dream from Les Miserables.
The way she looked…
The way she moved…
The way she talked…
I’ll admit, I was looking for something like Mrs Miller from the 1960s Ed Sullivan show…so bad that it was entertaining.
But then they cued the music…
And she brought a skeptical crowd to their feet.
I watched the video four times.
Talent speaks louder than first impressions.
A great reminder to us as we prejudge the people we meet.
What you see isn’t what you get!

PS:  Note how Simon Cowell uses the rule of three to get a laugh during the judges comments:  Surprised, Surprised, Not Surprised.

The workplace should not be all work and no play.  To have fun at the office we need to be able to laugh at our mistakes.

Sixteen years ago my marketing director and good friend Connie handled all my speaking booking and correspondence.  We had a second office set up in her home and she handled the administrative end of my business.

In preparing confirmation letters for upcoming engagements, we would include the closing sentence:  “Please sign a copy of this letter of agreement and return to us to confirm the engagement date.”

Of course, Connie would always run the letter through the spell checker to ensure there were no spelling errors.  Once blessed by the spell checker, we knew everything was perfect.  One day a signed letter was returned to us and we discovered that the meeting planner had been instructed to “SING a copy of the letter.”  The meeting planner had SIGNED it, but we always wondered if she also SANG the letter before returning it!

We laughed about that incident for years.  Spell checkers are nice, but we learned first-hand the funny situations which can happen if you totally depend on them.

That reminds me of the ODE TO A SPELL CHECKER by Jerrold H Zar which starts:

Eye halve a spelling check her,
It came with my pea sea.
It plane lee marks four my revue
Miss steaks aye kin knot sea.

As a side note:  I asked Connie (16 years ago) if she would like to enroll in an English class at the local college and that I would pay for the tuition.  Since she had not attended college, she loved the idea.  After she completed the first class, she enrolled herself in another.  And another.  Three years ago Connie received her Masters Degree in English!  I’m sure the Chancellor of the University wanted to SING her diploma!  Congratulations Connie.

Laughing at your mistakes is a positive thing and can lead to wonderful results.

“I’ve used humor as a defense mechanism for as long as I can remember,”  Steve Mertz shared with me.  I met Steve when he presented a program on Search Engine Optimization at the Las Vegas Chapter of the National Speakers Association (NSA).  “Humor is the universal language and it’s impossible to have a pity party and laugh at the same time.”

Steve walks with the use of forearm crutches. He observes that “this makes my upper body mean and lean–kind of like doing bench presses all day!  Because of spinal cord damage it’s necessary for me to use the crutches when walking. I have movement in my legs and love to swim.”

“Humor has been my favorite coping tool over the years. It’s diffused many an awkward situation and made many friends for me.  Combine humor with the ability to generate small talk and you have a powerful combination.”

“I also have found that my intention is to tell people what happened to me, without being dramatic, so they can focus on what I have to say.  Therefore, I tell them the facts and then try to interject humor to disarm them and let them know that I’m OK with my condition. I’m still the same person with the same heart–I just have this inconvenience to deal with!”

Here are a couple of examples of how Steve has used humor in his interactions with people:

  – People will often comment on my good-looking crutches.  They like the color.  If they comment, I may say something like, “It’s important for crippled people to follow fashion as well.”

  – If someone is rude, I might say:  “Don’t worry it’s not contagious.”

“At first, it really pissed me off that people would just stop, stare, point and ask ‘what happened?!’  I soon discovered that being bitter did me absolutely no good and I learned that a smile and some humor would immediately disarm the rudest of people.”

“I’m writing a children’s book to help young people with disabilities. It will be titled:  Our Footprints are Different–But our Hearts are The Same (www.ourfootprintsaredifferent.com).   One of the suggestions that I make to parents is to have their kids take an Improv class on humor–a little tamer than some of the comedy you see in a nightclub–but along the same lines.  The sooner we can start laughing the quicker the healing starts!”

Steve Mertz is the President, NSA Colorado Chapter, 2008-2009.  He can help you optimize your web site so that people can find you on the search engines.  One of his tag-lines:  “Fall asleep doing a Google search for your website?”  His program for our NSA Chapter was terrific, insightful and practical.  Check out Steve’s web site (www.seospeakers.com).

A book Review

Personal Development for Smart People is a new book by Steve Pavlina.  He explores seven universal principles that are keys to personal growth.  The book doesn’t tell you what to do, but rather helps you to discover your own truths.

A philosophy in the book is that exposing you to a wide variety of inputs and resources uncovers patterns that you would otherwise not recognize.  This opens your mind to new ways of thinking and doing.

I’ll share a couple of perspectives which I found interesting and valuable: 

About Relationships.
“People who are too different from you are difficult to bond with, and those who are too similar can’t teach you very much.  The best relationships provide enough common ground to form a strong bond while also stimulating growth in new directions.”

About Goal Setting.
“Whenever you consider a new goal, pay attention to the effect it has on your present reality.  Set goals that make you feel powerful, motivated and driven when you focus on them.”

Pavlina recommends that we apply a military battlefield triage system to set our priorities and allocate our precious resources.  I’ve read 50 books on time management and never seen this common-sense approach suggested in the way that he explains it.

About Security.
On security Pavlina points out that “safe” is both an adjective (free from danger) and a noun (a container with a lock).  “If you’re living the adjective, you’re living the noun…don’t trap yourself in a cage of false security.”

“The illusion of security is the primary aim of the false path.”  And he points you to finding your right path. 

It’s a book that I think most people will want to read more than once.  Insightful and practical.  Highly recommended.  You’ll find it on Amazon.

by Eric Feng, The Public Speaking Blog.

“It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward, how much you can take and keep moving forward!”  Rocky Balboa

I have never watched a single Rocky movie even though my roommate and dad are huge fans. However after Monday’s presentation by a phenomenal speaker, I will most likely (more…)