Humor at work | Andrew Tarvin | TEDxOhioStateUniversity

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences.

Andrew Tarvin is an award-winning speaker, best-selling author, and international comedian. In this talk Andrew Tarvin talks about how he brought humor to the workplace while he worked at Procter & Gamble. After being complimented by co-workers on how humor helped them enjoy their work, Andrew decided to start becoming a humor engineer - using humor to help people become more efficient and effective in the workplace.

Have you ever been in a class

that was so boring that you fell asleep

and started to dream
about happiness and milkshakes?

(Laughter)

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

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

it doesn't get any better.

(Laughter)

But the good news is that it can.

The problem with people
in the corporate world

is sometimes they're so focused
on the bottom line

that they just focus in on efficiency.

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

In fact, I was even born three weeks early

because apparently, even in the womb,

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

(Laughter)

But the problem is that just because
something is efficient,

it doesn't mean that it's effective.

Just because something saves time,

it doesn't mean that it
actually gets results.

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

(Laughter)

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

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

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

(Laughter)

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

The summer between my junior
and senior year of college,

I interned at Procter & Gamble
in Cincinnati.

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

that would ultimately decide

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

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

Killer because it was going
to bore them to death.

The night before my presentation,

I decided that I needed
to change everything.

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

started with this slide.

(Laughter)

I can tell you from personal experience

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

(Laughter)

But it does get people to pay attention.

My presentation ended with what I think
was my greatest masterpiece

(Laughter)

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

And yes, those are visually
accurate stick figures

(Laughter)

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

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

and one of the associate
directors pulled me aside:

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

(Laughter)

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

(Laughter)

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

(Laughter)

I replied: "Word."

(Laughter)

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

I'd never really realized
that most people think

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

To reference Animaniacs,

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

In reality, you need to bring
both of them together

in order to actually try
to take over the world.

Because people who use humor at work

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

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

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

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

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

83% of Americans
feel stressed out at work.

55% of Americans are
unsatisfied with their jobs,

and 47% of Americans
struggle to stay happy.

Of course, it's even worse in Disney world

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

(Laughter)

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

A few years after my internship,

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

I was promoted from analyst
to project manager,

and I still used humor in the workplace.

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

So instead of the standard
"Retail Sales 2.0",

I named them things like
"Project Awesomization".

(Laughter)

I also taught improv
to all of my team members

so that they can improve
their leadership skills

and start to brainstorm
and think faster on their feet.

Whenever someone new would join my team,

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

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

(Laughter)

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

(Laughter)

a shock to none of you.

(Laughter)

But after one
of my weekly status meetings,

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

(Laughter)

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

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

(Laughter)

"Why are you thanking me?"

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

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

of Bayesian probability
and predictive analytics."

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

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

Before I joined Project Awesomization,

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

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

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

you just decided to, so thank you."

And I was touched.

Because Ewok was right.

(Laughter)

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

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

I'd always assumed that I could.

It was at that moment that I decided

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

I wanted to be a humor engineer.

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

But just as a computer science engineer

helps people be more efficient,
more effective using technology,

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

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

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

Humor helps your message
actually stick out

and gets people to stop and pay attention.

(Laughter)

Humor also makes your message
more memorable.

Simple things like mnemonics
help us remember things

long after we actually learned them.

I haven't played an instrument in years,

but I still remember
that Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge.

(Laughter)

But even more humor
helps us to solve problems

because it gets the brain
going and warms us up.

In fact, I can help you all warm up

a few neurons right now
with this simple joke.

How would Sherlock respond
if Watson asked:

"What's the grade before middle school?"

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

(Laughter)

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

and in the process releases
a chemical, serotonin,

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

And if you laughed at that joke,
then congratulations,

you just burned half of a calorie.

(Laughter)

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

If you laugh for 10 to 15 minutes,

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

10 minutes of dancing,

and 15 minutes of milking a cow.

(Laughter)

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

(Laughter)

Just laugh for 10 minutes instead,

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

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

reduce tension, and relax your muscles.

But not only that.

Once you're more productive
and less stressed,

you actually make more money.

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

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

And money may not buy happiness,
but relationships might.

Because people
with 3 close friends at work,

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

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

And how do you get close friends?

Money.

(Laughter)

I'm just kidding. You use humor.

Because humor connects people.

It builds trust, diffuses tension,

and creates positive shared experiences
that bring people closer together.

You start to realize
that the people around you

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

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

That is the power of humor;

it not only helps you
but the people around you.

A few years after my conversation
with Sarah the Ewok,

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

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

on how to be more effective using humor.

I've also learned
that only one third of people

use humor at work regularly.

I wanted to understand why,

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

The first reason people don't use humor

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

When humor isn't part
of your normal workday,

you start to assume that it's not welcome.

But 81% of employees say

that a fun workplace
would make them more productive,

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

The second reason
why people don't use humor

is that they don't know how.

When you think about humor,
that it means laughter,

it can seem intimidating.

But humor is different than comedy.

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

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

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

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

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

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

They don't have time.

There are 168 hours in a week.

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

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

If you work an average
of 40 hours per week,

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

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

The truth is that every single day

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

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

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

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

Thank you.

(Applause)