Anyone-even you!-can learn how to harness the power of humor in business (and life) based on
the popular class at Stanford's Graduate School of Business. Working professionals have fallen
off a humor cliff. In fact around the time we enter the workforce the number of times we
laugh and smile on an average day statistically starts to plummet. And yet research shows that
humor is one of the most powerful tools we have for accomplishing serious work. Studies reveal
that humor makes us appear more competent and confident strengthens relationships unlocks
creativity and boosts our resilience during difficult times. Plus it fends off a permanent
and unsightly frown known as resting boss face. Top executives are in on the secret: 98 percent
prefer employees with a sense of humor and 84 percent believe that these employees do better
work. But even for those who intuitively understand humor's power few know how to wield it
with intention. As a result humor is vastly underleveraged in most workplaces today impacting
our performance relationships and health. That's why Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas teach
the popular course Humor: Serious Business at the Stanford Graduate School of Business where
they help some of the world's most hard-driving blazer-wearing business minds build levity
into their organizations and lives. In Humor Seriously they draw on findings by behavioral
scientists world-class comedians and inspiring business leaders to reveal how humor works
and-more important-how you can use it more often and effectively Aaker and Bagdonas unpack the
theory and application of humor: what makes something funny and how to mine your life for
material. They show how to use humor to make a strong first impression deliver difficult
feedback persuade and motivate others and foster cultures where levity and creativity can
thrive-not to mention how to keep it appropriate and recover if you cross a line.
Illustrations by Michelle Rial reinforce these lessons and add humor throughout. President
Dwight David Eisenhower once said A sense of humor is part of the art of leadership of
getting along with people of getting things done. If Eisenhower the second least naturally
funny president ever (after Franklin Pierce) thought humor was necessary to win wars build
highways and warn against the military-industrial complex then you might consider learning it
too. Seriously.
