Jennifer Aaker - Humor Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life (And how anyone can harness it. Even you.)

Eye-opening, hilarious, and absolutely original, Humor, Seriously will change the way you think on the job, about the world, and in your life.

LESLIE BLODGETT , founder and former CEO of Bare Escentuals

Of all the known ways to ruin humor, the most common start with the words research, analyze, and professor. The bad news is that this book features all of those words. Prominently. The good news is that against all odds, youll actually have fun reading it. It probably wont turn you into Ali Wong, Dave Chappelle, or Hannah Gadsby, but it will give you a much deeper appreciation of how they thinkand teach you some new ways to make people laugh.

ADAM GRANT , New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take, and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

In this eye-opening, important, and utterly enjoyable book, Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas use science to explain how humor at work (and in life) helps alleviate stress, anxiety, and burnout. Come for the humor, stay for the insights.

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON , co-founder of The Huffington Post and CEO of Thrive Global

If this book and Brad Pitt walked into a bar, and I could only pick one, Id take the book home with me.

NANCY LUBLIN , former CEO, Crisis Text Line and DoSomething.org

Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas have written a remarkable book for a remarkable moment in history. I learned long ago that when weighed down by serious matters, one may best be taken seriously by seeking out a certain lightheartedness as an expression of humility, optimism, and confidence on the road to the serious business of nurturing trust and leading others.

JOEL PETERSON , Chairman of JetBlue Airways

Fresh, profound, and consistently entertaining. I know the words evidence-based dont immediately connote riotous laughter, but Aaker and Bagdonas bring some irresistibly compelling science to the art and application of humor.

KELLY LEONARD , executive vice president of The Second City

Lets talk about humor. But first, lets talk about stories.

The typical story has three acts that go something like this: The first act tells the audience what the problem is and why they should care. The second act is where it all goes wrongso very, very wrong. The third act is where, unlike in real life, it all gets resolved. How exactly it ends, though, is, just like in real life, always a surprise.

In our Pixar movies, we searched for stories that had meaning, something that resonated with us personally, that emerged from our collective experiences, that illuminated the fun and games, adventures and heartbreaks. He wasnt just a rathe was a courageous little rat with big dreams of becoming a world-class chef.

We found that the best way to connect that meaning to people on a fundamental and emotional level is to deliver it with humor.

In fact, its pretty hard to make a point about deeper meaning without humor. It all becomes too on the nose, too obvious. It doesnt take; its more like lecturing. And no one wants a lecture from a rat in a chef hat.

Humor isnt about jokes or arbitrarinessto resonate, it should arise naturally out of the characters themselves. The space and texture that creates humor within the narrative of a film, or the arc of a character, is what creates meaning for an audience.

Thats the way life has to be as well.

We all want meaning in our lives. And yet, there are times when work and life get serious and hard, mundane and stressful. Having a sense of humor doesnt just punctuate and offset the seriousnessit allows the meaning to come through. Unexpected moments with co-workers, partners, families, and friends shake things up and keep you on your toes. They define the shape of your relationship as much as the hard moments do. Playfulness and bonding with one another in the good times are of tremendous value during the times when things get more serious.

This is true not just for us as individuals, but for us as leaders of organizations, too.

Pixar has faced many problems since its inception. Difficult, serious problems. Money problems, culture problems, losing fantastic team members who defined usproblems. In these moments, what I found was that what I said as a leader didnt matterthey were just words that washed away; what people grabbed on to was how I behaved. One has to admit failures and take actions that demonstrate real values.

Doing so with a healthy sense of humorwith the intellectual perspective, empathy, and humanity it bringsis a vital part of responding to the unexpected, of adapting to new realities. Words matter little; behavior and attitude are what count.

A sense of humor is part of what makes us human. Its a deeply connecting and empowering thing. Deploying it doesnt make light of serious things, it means youre able to move forward, in spite of those serious things.

And thats exactly what a good Pixar protagonist does in the third act. They adapt, they change, they fix the problem. In our movies, they do it with humorand, sometimes, with a dash of paprika.

Where there is serious work punctuated by levitythats where we find meaning.

Have a meaningful read,

Ed