Communication: That’s a Bunch of Baloney
Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 by Frank RocheThe 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.)
Stress Training Mark
Oct 23rd, 2009
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/
Ron Ulrici
Oct 23rd, 2009
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.
Frank Roche
Oct 23rd, 2009
@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.
Frank Roche
Oct 23rd, 2009
@Mark It is underrated…it’s tough to pull off, but when communication includes it, people remember.
Bill Strahan
Oct 26th, 2009
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.
Frank Roche
Oct 26th, 2009
@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.