WEBVTT

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Have you ever been in a class

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that was so boring that you fell asleep

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and started to dream
about happiness and milkshakes?

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(Laughter)

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Only to be woken up by a professor
reading slides to you?

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I'm here to tell you that when you
enter the corporate world,

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it doesn't get any better.

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(Laughter)

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But the good news is that it can.

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The problem with people
in the corporate world

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is sometimes they're so focused
on the bottom line

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that they just focus in on efficiency.

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And I love efficiency, I'm an engineer,
I'm obsessed with it.

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In fact, I was even born three weeks early

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because apparently, even in the womb,

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I said: "I'm ready to go right now!"

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(Laughter)

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But the problem is that just because
something is efficient,

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it doesn't mean that it's effective.

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Just because something saves time,

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it doesn't mean that it
actually gets results.

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And if you're thinking: "Why should I
believe you, skinny Hugh Jackman?"

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(Laughter)

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First of all, you don't have
to remind me that I'm skinny.

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I've been skinny my entire life,
I was born 8.3 pounds

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and then stayed that way
till I was 15 years old.

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(Laughter)

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But second, it's because
I've actually been there.

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The summer between my junior
and senior year of college,

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I interned at Procter & Gamble
in Cincinnati.

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At the end of the summer, I had to give
a presentation to a review board

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that would ultimately decide

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whether or not I could get hired
full-time at the company.

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I slaved over a presentation
that I ended up thinking was killer.

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Killer because it was going
to bore them to death.

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The night before my presentation,

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I decided that I needed
to change everything.

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And so the single most important
presentation I'd ever given in my life

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started with this slide.

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(Laughter)

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I can tell you from personal experience

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that creating an entire presentation
in Microsoft Paint is not very efficient.

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(Laughter)

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But it does get people to pay attention.

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My presentation ended with what I think
was my greatest masterpiece

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(Laughter)

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an 'M.C. Escher meets Keith Haring'-style
drawing of the review board that day.

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And yes, those are visually
accurate stick figures

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(Laughter)

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of each one of the senior leaders
that was going to decide my fate.

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After I delivered my presentation,
I talked with each of the people,

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and one of the associate
directors pulled me aside:

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"You know, you're
pretty good at PowerPoint."

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(Laughter)

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I said: "I'd like to think
that I excel at it."

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(Laughter)

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He was like: "Was that
a Microsoft Office pun?"

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(Laughter)

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I replied: "Word."

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(Laughter)

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Two days later, I found out I got the job.

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I'd never really realized
that most people think

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that humor and work are
at the opposite ends of the spectrum.

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To reference Animaniacs,

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people think that humor is Pinky
and work is the Brain.

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In reality, you need to bring
both of them together

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in order to actually try
to take over the world.

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Because people who use humor at work

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are more productive, less stressed,
paid more and happier,

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which is something that I never learned
in any one of my college classes.

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Because our classes teach us
the skills we need to do a job,

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but no one really teaches you the skills
that you need to enjoy that job.

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And it turns out, as Americans,
we are not very good at it.

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83% of Americans
feel stressed out at work.

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55% of Americans are
unsatisfied with their jobs,

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and 47% of Americans
struggle to stay happy.

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Of course, it's even worse in Disney world

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where statistically,
only 1 out of 7 dwarfs are happy.

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(Laughter)

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But still, 1 out of 2 people
was still pretty scary.

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A few years after my internship,

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I was working at Procter & Gamble
in New York City.

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I was promoted from analyst
to project manager,

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and I still used humor in the workplace.

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I was a project manager, I got to name
my projects whatever I wanted.

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So instead of the standard
"Retail Sales 2.0",

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I named them things like
"Project Awesomization".

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(Laughter)

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I also taught improv
to all of my team members

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so that they can improve
their leadership skills

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and start to brainstorm
and think faster on their feet.

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Whenever someone new would join my team,

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I'd have them fill out a personality
assessment like Myers-Briggs

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or more importantly,
"Which Star Wars character are you?"

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(Laughter)

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If you're wondering, I'm an INTJ R2-D2

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(Laughter)

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a shock to none of you.

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(Laughter)

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But after one
of my weekly status meetings,

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one of my co-workers came up to me
- it was Sarah, a.k.a. Ewok -

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(Laughter)

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and Sarah was like,
"Drew, I just want to thank you."

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I had no idea what she was talking about,
so, of course, I said, "It's about time."

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(Laughter)

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"Why are you thanking me?"

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She said, "That is because
of this project, it's been fun."

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I was, "Finally! Someone else
who appreciates the joy

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of Bayesian probability
and predictive analytics."

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She was like, "What are you
talking about? (Laughter)

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No, not the project itself,
but they way that you managed it.

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Before I joined Project Awesomization,

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I was thinking about quitting
because I was so stressed out.

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But then I joined your team,
and it was different because we had fun.

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And somewhere along the way, I realized
that no one told you to use humor,

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you just decided to, so thank you."

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And I was touched.

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Because Ewok was right.

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(Laughter)

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No one ever told me to use humor,
but no one ever stopped me either.

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Sarah, like so many other people,
never thought she could use humor at work.

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I'd always assumed that I could.

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It was at that moment that I decided

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that I no longer wanted to be
just a computer science engineer.

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I wanted to be a humor engineer.

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And if you've never heard of it before,
it's because I've made it up.

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But just as a computer science engineer

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helps people be more efficient,
more effective using technology,

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a humor engineer helps people
be more efficient effective using humor.

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Because the average person sends
and receives 112 e-mails per day,

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and spends 80% of their time
in some form of communication.

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Humor helps your message
actually stick out

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and gets people to stop and pay attention.

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(Laughter)

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Humor also makes your message
more memorable.

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Simple things like mnemonics
help us remember things

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long after we actually learned them.

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I haven't played an instrument in years,

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but I still remember
that Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.

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(Laughter)

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But even more humor
helps us to solve problems

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because it gets the brain
going and warms us up.

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In fact, I can help you all warm up

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a few neurons right now
with this simple joke.

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How would Sherlock respond
if Watson asked:

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"What's the grade before middle school?"

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Naturally he'd say,
"It's elementary, my dear Watson."

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(Laughter)

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Just by making a simple joke,
our brain starts making connections,

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and in the process releases
a chemical, serotonin,

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which not only increases our focus
but also improves our own brain power.

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And if you laughed at that joke,
then congratulations,

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you just burned half of a calorie.

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(Laughter)

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Which is really only 15%
of a single M&M, but still.

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If you laugh for 10 to 15 minutes,

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then you burn as many calories
as in 5 minutes of aerobic exercise,

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10 minutes of dancing,

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and 15 minutes of milking a cow.

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(Laughter)

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So if you've been out sneaking
into farms to exercise, stop!

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(Laughter)

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Just laugh for 10 minutes instead,

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and you do that for a year,
you'll lose up to 4 pounds;

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you do that for a lifetime,
and you'll increase resiliency,

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reduce tension, and relax your muscles.

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But not only that.

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Once you're more productive
and less stressed,

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you actually make more money.

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In fact, in a study put on
by the Harvard Business Review,

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it was found that executives who use humor
are paid more and promoted faster.

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And money may not buy happiness,
but relationships might.

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Because people
with 3 close friends at work,

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are 96% more likely to be
satisfied with their lives.

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Not just satisfied with their work
but satisfied with their lives.

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And how do you get close friends?

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Money.

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(Laughter)

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I'm just kidding. You use humor.

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Because humor connects people.

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It builds trust, diffuses tension,

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and creates positive shared experiences
that bring people closer together.

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You start to realize
that the people around you

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aren't just co-workers,
students, or professors,

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but they're actual human beings
with human lives and human emotions.

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That is the power of humor;

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it not only helps you
but the people around you.

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A few years after my conversation
with Sarah the Ewok,

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I decided that I was going to leave
P&G to start my own company.

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Since then, I've worked with hundreds
of organizations across the United States

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on how to be more effective using humor.

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I've also learned
that only one third of people

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use humor at work regularly.

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I wanted to understand why,

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so I run a study through my website,
and nearly 400 people responded.

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The first reason people don't use humor

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is because they don't think their boss
or co-workers would approve.

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When humor isn't part
of your normal workday,

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you start to assume that it's not welcome.

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But 81% of employees say

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that a fun workplace
would make them more productive,

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and 98% of CEOs prefer job candidates
with the sense of humor.

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The second reason
why people don't use humor

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is that they don't know how.

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When you think about humor,
that it means laughter,

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it can seem intimidating.

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But humor is different than comedy.

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Humor is defined as comic, absurd,
or incongruous quality causing amusement.

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So while laughter is great,
a smile is also good.

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It's not about making work funny,
but making work fun.

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If you think fun, if you think positive
and you think inclusive,

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you're on your way to being
a corporate rock star.

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The final reason is that people say
they don't have time.

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They don't have time.

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There are 168 hours in a week.

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If you average 7 hours of sleep per night,
you spend 49 of them sleeping.

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That leaves 119 hours per week
that you're awake.

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If you work an average
of 40 hours per week,

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that is 33.6% of your
adult life spent at work.

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You don't have time to make one third
of your adult waking life more enjoyable?

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The truth is that every single day

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you choose if you're going to be
more productive and less stressed.

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You choose if you're going to do
the things that will get you paid more.

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And you choose
if you're going to be happy.

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With one third of your life on a line,
why not use humor at work?

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Thank you.

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(Applause)