027: Humor, Seriously: Why Humor is a Secret Weapon in Business & Life

The David Bach Show

I’m beyond thrilled to welcome today’s guest, Jennifer Aaker. Jennifer is a life-long friend and an inspirational human being loved by many. Our friendship goes all the way back to age 15. How crazy is that? When you crunch the numbers, we have known each other for 39 years!

Jennifer Aaker has been a rock-star professor at Stanford for over 20 years and was voted the MBA Professor of the Year in 2019. She is the leading expert on how purpose and meaning shape individual choices and how technology can positively impact both human well-being and company growth. Her work has been widely published in leading scientific journals and featured in The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and Science.

Today, we’re talking about her new book Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life. Jennifer, and her co-author Naomi Bagdonas, bring actionable steps on how to master humor, even if you’re not naturally funny. That’s right. You can learn humor. And those who do, usually live longer, have joyful careers, and enjoy better relationships with their friends and family.

If you want to learn how to master the power of humor and live a happy, healthy, and wealthy life, don't miss my conversation with Jennifer Aaker!

In this session, here’s what we cover:

• Why is humor such a powerful skill?
• How everyone can learn comedy and harness its powers in social, private, and business life.
• Why teaching your kids about humor is just as important as teaching them about personal finance.
• How Jennifer mastered humor and wrote a book on being funny, even though she was rated as the least funny one in her home.
• The importance of genuine laughter from a neurological, social, psychological relationship, business, and career perspective.
• The Power of humor audits, and how to raise awareness of self.
• The humor cliff in mid-life, and why adults don’t laugh as much as kids and elderly.
• The four types of humor and how to use them in personal and business life.
• What are the benefits and risks of each comedy style?
• How to bond with teams in a remote-work environment and build a culture of inclusivity.
• The power of “call back” in a workplace.
• Humor during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Real-life examples of how to use humor in a virtual workplace.

Interview Resources

• HumorSeriously.com
• Connect with Jennifer Aaker on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram
• Connect with Naomi Bagdonas on Twitter, LinkedIn
• Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life
• The Dragonfly Effect: Quick, Effective, and Powerful Ways to Use Social Media to Drive Social Change
• The Dragonfly Effect: The Power of Stories
• The Humor Quiz
• The Bootcamp
• Free Humor Workbook
• Jennifer Aaker’s research at Stanford
• The Latte Factor: Why You Don’t Have to Be Rich to Live Rich

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