Laughing Matters

On today’s episode of Laughing Matters, Brandi Boatner, Manager of digital and advocacy communications at IBM, joins us to talk about how she uses humor as a dynamic public speaker and advocate for her profession. Her insights include:

• How she linked an IT infrastructure campaign with yoga poses.
• How humor can play a role in attracting students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds into communications.
• A hilarious cringeworthy moment in Grand Central Station that taught her valuable lessons about resilience and self-acceptance.

In this episode of Laughing Matters, Paul Merchan and Steve Cody interview Gloria Rodriguez, the founder and president of Comunicad, a Ruder Finn company, and a pioneer in multicultural communications and advocacy for the Latino community. She shares some of her amazing stories and insights from her career, such as:

● The time she took clients to Puerto Rico to help support Hurricane Maria relief efforts and helped expand the aid to our furry friends

● How she uses humor to bridge the gap between Latino and mainstream cultures and to overcome challenges and stereotypes in the media industry

● How she convinced a former U.S. president to restore funding for job training programs for Puerto Ricans in New York

Tune in to the latest episode of Laughing Matters, featuring David Dye, President of Let’s Grow Leaders and co-author of “Powerful Phrases for Dealing with Workplace Conflict.” David shares tips on what to do when faced with a workplace conflict, including results from the study he conducted for his book. Among his insights:

• The difference between productive and destructive conflict and the role of humor
• How to navigate hot-button issues when others see the world differently than you do
• Which countries in the study experienced the most workplace conflict (spoiler: US is high on the list but did not finish #1, believe it or not)

Dr. Phillip Gable, Director of the Interdisciplinary Neuroscience Graduate Program and Professor at the University of Delaware, recently joined the Laughing Matters podcast to dissect the intricate world of human emotions and humor with the precision of a brain surgeon but the vulnerability of a stand-up comedian.

Dr. Gable discusses everything from how our emotions impact behavior to the neural underpinnings that drive our humor responses.

He also addresses the following:

• With all due respect to Socrates and Plato, Dr. Gable says using an Aristotelian approach to set up punchlines and make sense of the unexpected are linked to humor in the business world
• A laugh out loud tale involving an unexpected restroom encounter with the police at a restaurant
• How he uses emotions to set the rhythm for effective teaching and storytelling and, critically, deepening connections with students.

On today’s episode of Laughing Matters, we welcome our first returning guest, Ken Jacobs, Principal of Jacobs Consulting and Executive Coaching. Ken emphasizes that leadership is about being someone people choose to follow, not just holding a specific title. He discusses the importance of emotional intelligence and the role it plays in leadership, as well as:

• The difference between coachable and uncoachable leaders
• Knowing you are “kenough” and the right use of self-deprecating humor
• A story that’s sooo cringeworthy that it’ll scare you into pay attention to detail before jumping to conclusions

HR & management consultant expert, entrepreneur and keynote speaker Kendra Prospero joins the Laughing Matters Podcast to talk about what business leaders need to do to create the conditions for people to thrive. She discusses the “people's revolution” to transform company cultures and how employers can embrace the change, as well as:

• How to invite humor into HR, which is often shamed as humorless
• Embracing “feed forward” rather than feedback
• Laughing off an embarrassing “mic drop” moment when she was giving her first keynote address

Author, podcast host, keynote speaker and comedian Kathy Klotz-Guest shares how she helps companies infuse humor into their everyday practices through the tenets of improv and comedy through her company, “Keeping it Human.” Kathy shares her approach while also discussing:

• How most organizations need to get out of their own way to bring humor back
• Why it’s still a challenge for women to be funny (and not be funny) in their jobs
• When your humor comes off cringe, learn to “embrace the suck”

Do you think today’s politicians are too scripted? Or maybe they’re a little too comfortable “winging it.” Or maybe they need to go old school and take a page out of President Lincoln’s joke book. Dr. Don Waisanen from Baruch College joins Laughing Matters to discuss the dire need for more humor in political communication today and why some of the presidential candidates can stand to take an improv class before their next debate. He also discusses:

• Past U.S. presidents who have been most effective at using humor
• How improv can help all our communication (complete with an improv session)
• His methodology for teaching his students how to be great public speakers

A funny thing happened on the way to the courthouse for Judge Nelson Diaz. In fact, lots of funny things happened on his journey from the inner city to the inner sanctum of Washington, D.C. power politics. From his childhood days playing baseball outside the projects in Harlem to law school in Philadelphia to his time working as HUD General Counsel under President Bill Clinton, Judge Diaz is no stranger to feeling like the underdog and outsider. In this episode, he shares how he used humor to overcome prejudices he faced as a trailblazing Latino in his profession. He also discusses:

• Issues he faced being “bi-cultural, bilingual, and by myself”
• Bridging the gap between how Latinos perceive humor and how it’s interpreted in mainstream America
• Lessons he learned on the importance of humor in the White House during periods of conflict

Have you ever thought about how humor can play a role in our work in diversity, equity, and inclusion? Award-winning author and college professor Dr. Malcolm Frierson shares how his research on African American history led him to explore stand-up comedy and discusses: 

• Researching humor as a platform for the civil rights movement and the African American experience 
• How companies can improve their DE&I practices and make impactful contributions 
• The influence of comedy greats Dick Gregory, Richard Pryor, and Margaret Cho

 For an example of the type of humor Dr. Frierson references, check out this hilarious clip of Dick Gregory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej5FwzhUDcM