Jennifer Aaker > Quotes

“Ultimately, a culture of levity creates a safe place for employees. When you feel safe and feel like you’re being led through levity versus fear, you’re much more apt to take chances. You’re more likely to try things without worrying about being ridiculed, or ostracized. You’re more willing to innovate—to push new ideas and to push against old ideas.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Fear is the greatest killer of creativity,” Asai explained, “and humor is the most effective tool I’ve found for insulating cultures from fear.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“In the wise words of the Dalai Lama, “Laughter is good for thinking because when people laugh, it is easier for them to admit new ideas to their minds.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Where there is serious work punctuated by levity—that’s where we find meaning.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“My job as a leader isn’t to prevent mistakes from happening; my job as a leader is to correct them as quickly as possible when they do happen. However, if nobody feels comfortable bringing me the bad news—it’s going to take me a lot longer to correct those mistakes.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Shared truths create the foundation for humor. So instead of asking yourself what is funny, start by asking what is true. We’ll find humor from there.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Using humor in the face of failure can help us manage our emotions so we can learn from our mistakes and bounce back quickly, decreasing the transition time from one failure to the next attempt. As leadership expert Dana Bilky Asher writes: “We cannot lead if we cannot learn. And yet, our capacity to take in and process new information—to generate new insights and true growth—shuts down in response to the fear of letting people down. Laughter opens us up again.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Lack of trust impacts your employees’ motivation and productivity, the likelihood that they’ll jump ship for a new company, and how much time you (and everyone else) spend frantically putting out fires that could have been avoided had your people felt comfortable discussing sensitive issues with you.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“A person without a sense of humor is like a wagon without springs. It’s jolted by every pebble on the road.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“In words attributed to Albert Einstein, “Creativity is intelligence having fun.” Let your intelligence live a little.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“When you “punch up”—that is, tease someone of higher status—you can seem brave and confident. But “punch down” by making fun of someone of lower status, and you can seem like a jerk or a bully.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“To be successful, you must translate your passion into a powerful story and tell it in a way that generates “contagious energy,” so that your audience reflects on your tweet, blog post, or email, long after they leave their computers.1 By doing this, you generate participation, networking, growth, and ripple effects—forces that combine to form a movement that people feel they are a part of. Your personal goal then becomes collective.”
― Jennifer Aaker, The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways To Use Social Media to Drive Social Change

“The freshest, most interesting comedy is not based on mother-in-law jokes or Jack Nicholson impressions,*4 but on exposing our own personalities”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Humor charms and disarms. Even small gestures of levity are powerful in negotiations, in part because they spark human connection—and when we connect as people, we often get more of what we both want.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“trust a person or a company that takes itself too seriously.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“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 doesn’t just punctuate and offset the seriousness—it allows the meaning to come through.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“we don’t need to take ourselves so seriously in order to grapple with serious things.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“A man and a woman were stranded in an elevator and they knew they weren’t gonna make it out alive. The woman turns to the man and says, ‘Make me feel like a woman before I die.’ So he takes off his clothes and says, ‘Fold them!’ ” Yeah, we know.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Having a sense of humor doesn’t just punctuate and offset the seriousness—it allows the meaning to come through.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Recognition of hard work matters, especially when it comes to retaining talent. A decades-long study of two hundred thousand managers and employees conducted by OC Tanner found that 79 percent of people who leave their jobs cite “lack of appreciation” as a primary reason.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Shared laughter doesn’t just create closeness in the moment. It’s equally effective at strengthening relationships over time. While the tan socks gag lasted less than a minute, Hennessey says the sense of camaraderie and cohesion it created “lasted well beyond the meeting.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“Ed Catmull, the former president of Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, believed that levity and play were foundational to building productive, creative teams. This is a theory validated by research: In a study of 352 employees across 54 teams, researchers Nale Lehmann-Willenbrock and Joseph Allen videotaped hourlong team meetings and then analyzed supervisors’ ratings of team performance. The teams that had humor demonstrated more functional communication and problem-solving behaviors, and performed better as a team, both during the meeting itself and over time. It was exactly this kind of playful culture that allowed the teams at Pixar to thrive.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“We don’t need more “professionalism” in our workplaces.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“The activity often unearths uncomfortable realities, and the difficulty of these conversations is what makes them poignant. By prompting these conversations, our goal is to cultivate empathy, awareness, and, hopefully, behavior change.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“When we ask people what holds them back from using humor at work, many say it’s the fear of inadvertently crossing a line. They aren’t wrong to have this worry; in the workplace, inappropriate or aggressive humor (like teasing—in the wrong context or with the wrong person) can weaken relationships rather than strengthen them, getting in the way of resolving workplace conflict.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“While you may not be romantically involved with your co-workers, there are compelling parallels between our romantic and work relationships. Just consider for a moment how much time you spent with your partner last week versus your closest colleague (your “work wife/husband”).”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“We didn’t start the Firefox It’s as old as trousers Since the world’s had browsers We didn’t start the Firefox No, we didn’t code it But our iPhones load it”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“In times of uneasiness, humor becomes even more unexpected,” she explains. “So when it appears, people run, not walk, towards it.”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“They gave us so much room to play, create joy, and find new ways to enhance the culture (and ultimately, our company’s performance).”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life

“of Business.*11 They’ve completed their humor audits (just as you will—read on!), and now they’re ready to start paying attention to the nuances of humor in their lives—where they see it in the world, what they find funny, who brings it out in them, and how they most naturally express it. Over the course of the semester, our students experience a profound shift. What begins as a sobering, often (very) unfunny first class (remember: “On Tuesday, I did not laugh once. Not once. Who knew a class about humor could be so depressing?”) ends with students reporting significantly more joy and more laughter in their lives. This shift is about more than their becoming funnier: They become more generous with their laughter. They notice opportunities for humor that would otherwise pass them by. The mindset of looking for reasons to be delighted becomes a habit. In a very real way, they learned how to move a little more fluidly, how to exercise with better form, and play their favorite (amateur) sport with better results—just as you will. When you walk around on the precipice of a smile, you’ll be surprised how many things you encounter that push you over the edge. So, repeat after us: “I promise to laugh more. Even on Tuesday.” THE HUMOR AUDIT*12 WHAT DOES HUMOR LOOK LIKE IN MY LIFE? This exercise is intended to spark self-awareness about various aspects of your unique sense of humor, so you can more”
― Jennifer Aaker, Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life