Tag: humor at work

How to Use Humor to Boost Human Effectiveness

As an engineer, I am obsessed with efficiency. Even my name is efficient: My full name is Andrew, but I go by Drew because it’s only one syllable. But through my work with organizations around the globe, I’ve learned that you can’t be efficient with humans because they have “emotions” and “feelings” and get “sick” […]

Think before you joke so you don’t have to litigate what’s ‘funny’

Studies show that laughing boosts immunity, eases anxiety and stress, improves mood, decreases pain, and can even prevent heart disease. Socially, laughing strengthens relationships. In addition to the value of humor in our personal lives, we cannot underestimate the power of humor at work. Humor aids in learning and memory retention, increases our ability to […]

North Korea has banned sarcasm. Whatever.

In case you haven’t seen the news, no, the title is not a joke. The last word, however, is probably illegal now in North Korea (not that I worry much that this post is making it through the Hermit Kingdom’s web filters). First, a little background. North Korea’s government, as we all know, displays two consistent […]

Kidding Around on the Job

As summer rolls on and TV reruns continue, I did like Michael Scott would do during an average workday: I turned my attention to surfing the Internet. I came across an article on the Wall Street Journal’s site entitled “Did You Hear the One About the Recession?” by Kayleen Schaefer. The article discusses how workplace […]