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Humor Typology Quiz
Not everyone is funny in the same way. What type of funny are you?
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Humor is serious business.
And that’s a fact backed by cold, hard research. Humor builds bonds, defuses tension, boosts innovation, and bolsters resilience through hard times. Like now. And now.
That’s why Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas teach “Humor: Serious Business”, at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, a course that has helped some of the world’s most hard-driving, blazer-wearing business minds have more joy in their work and lives. Want to hear something funny? These Stanford MBAs get as much academic credit for a course about humor as they do for “Financial Accounting.” We know. We wish we could go back to school too…
Now you can — sort of — with their new book! In it, Jennifer and Naomi share advice from world-class comedians, findings from behavioral scientists, and stories from leaders around the world. They reveal how humor works — and how it not only changes the way you do business, but live life.
Interested? Intrigued? Still reeling from that whole academic credit thing?
Praise for Humor, Seriously
“Humor is magical. It can make fear and pomposity vanish and creativity and resilience appear in their place. The ultimate guide to using the magical power of funny as a tool for leadership and a force for good, Humor, Seriously is an intoxicating mix of science, strategy, and slapstick — a knee-slapping, mind-expanding tour de force.”
— Daniel H. Pink, #1 NYT bestselling author of When, Drive, and A Whole Mind
“Fresh, profound, and consistently entertaining. Aaker and Bagdonas bring some irresistibly compelling science to the art and application of humor.”
— Kelly Leonard, Executive Vice President of The Second City
“A smart, funny, brilliant book on how to be smart about being funny, brilliantly. And I’m not just saying that because they say I am smart, funny, and brilliant in it. Buy it.”
— Sarah Cooper, Comedian and author of 100 Tricks to Appear Smart in Meetings
“I've learned (often the hard way) that the best way to be taken seriously is to not take yourself too seriously. My teams are always at their best when approaching problems with levity, which entails both humility and optimism and always engenders trust. Plus, it's more fun — like this book!”
— Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Executive Chair of Google (Alphabet)
“Business is serious and the world is serious, especially right now. That means we need the ideas described in Humor, Seriously even more than ever. Not because levity and humor are ways to relieve the pressure of serious times, although they are, but because they unlock our humanity in the moments where we most need it.”
— Tim Brown, Chair of IDEO and author of Change By Design
“Eye-opening, hilarious, and absolutely original, Humor, Seriously will change the way you think on the job, about the world, and in your life.”
— Leslie Blodgett, Founder and former CEO of bareMinerals and Humor CEO Ambassador
Featured in…
The New York Times — How to Laugh at Work
Fast Company — Humor is such an important leadership trait we teach it at Stanford’s business school
Insights by Stanford Business — This Is Not a Joke: The Cost of Being Humorless
Good Morning America — Using humor to upgrade your health, work and life
Wall Street Journal — How to be Humorous - Not Offensive - at Work
… And more!
A sneak peek of Humor, Seriously content
Join us on Good Morning America, where you’ll learn why laughing is like exercising, meditating, and having sex… at the same time!
Learn about our four humor styles with comedian Sarah Cooper in this Fast Company video, and then head to the quiz to see if you guessed your style right!
Adults fall off a humor cliff around age 23, which is why the brilliant, funny, and 12-year-old Joanna Grant at Thumbs Up Concepts was the perfect person to write and produce this book trailer. It is our favorite thing in the world.
Humor is your greatest weapon to reduce stress, combat Zoom fatigue, and survive the apocalypse. Even highly successful leaders share this secret ingredient (and they’re having more fun too). Want to learn how to create much-needed moments of joy at work?
Meet Naomi Bagdonas, Jennifer Aaker, and this rubber chicken being held up by the thumb (look closely) of a brilliant, devoted production assistant. He had a vision and he executed on it. Almost perfectly. As an ode to him, we couldn’t bring ourselves to edit out the thumb. Anyways! Curious who we are?