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Communication: That's a Bunch of Baloney
Oct 23The best ideas come as jokes. Make your thinking as funny as possible. — David M. Ogilvy
Here’s the secret for why I’m a good writer: Every morning when I get up, I put a piece of baloney in each of my shoes and I *feel* funny.
(Points if you know the origin of that one. Double points if you know the words to the Oscar Mayer Baloney Song.)
About the Author
Frank Roche
Frank started IFRACTAL over 7 years ago with Sarah Chambers. Together, they've created HR communications and HR software for some of the world's leading companies. Frank is also studying Flamenco guitar and origami.
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Humour is underrated – it involves the ability to stand beyond the normal perspective and be in at at the same time…which is tricky
All the best from Brighton,
Mark
http://integrationtraining.blogspot.com/
@Mark It is underrated…it’s tough to pull off, but when communication includes it, people remember.
Humor is very tricky. When it works, your audience is in the palm of your hand. When it doesn’t work, you are toast, especially if you’ve inadvertantly offended someone.
By the way, Dr. Scholl’s shoe inserts probably work better than baloney.
@Ron It’s tough because I’ve seen people really go down in flames in presentations. They’re really never very good at humor. Stick to the one liners..and avoid the baloney.
I have found that humor is especially helpful in emails. People get a boat load of the them. If you are known as sending out some really clever emails (or frankly some really inspiring ones / best yet a combination of the two), people read them. It is a pretty simple market idea. There is a market for people’s reading time and attention. There is more supply than demand. You have to make your offering something with a payoff for the reader – humor works well.
@Bill I know that humor always has that “Yeesh” factor if it’s not done well. But done well, it’s great, isn’t it? I like emotion in writing of all sorts…but I remember things I laugh about more than anything.