Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life by Jennifer Lynn Aaker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

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This book aims to bring humor into the workplace — kicking and screaming, if need be. (Or back to the workplace, depending upon to whom one talks.) The authors jointly teach a grad seminar at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business that addresses questions such as: Why is the corporate world so utterly devoid of a sense of humor? What are the benefits of bringing humor into a corporation? And, how can humor be introduced into a corporate setting without undermining other objectives — like taking over with suitable hostility and profitability and decent coffee in the breakroom (or, whatever, corporations are stoked about?)

This book addresses those questions along with more rudimentary questions such as what makes for funny and how can one be funnier than the average internal audit accountant. It also deals with more niche topics, such as the pitfalls of joking around — if you’re the boss — and how to make levity a component of corporate culture.

Like most books about humor that are designed for some other task than tickling the funny bone, one shouldn’t expect a laugh-riot. That said, neither is this a dry text on corporate communications. As I read, I sometimes felt the book tried too hard to throw in a joke and that a number of them didn’t land, but it also occurred to me that one of the book’s intended lessons is that one doesn’t have to be at a Chris Rock or Jim Gaffigan level of funny to engage in (and benefit from) a bit of corporate levity. (Ergo, some of the Dad Joke caliber groaners may have been on purpose and in that spirit.)

I enjoyed this book and felt it was a beneficial read. I’d recommend it for anyone interested in humor, particularly in the workplace.

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