Humour in business:
Yesterday I managed to take a partner with me to a client meeting. It went well because of the two approaches that make transactions smooth. The first approach is what you control. Know your world, for us that means writing software, & understanding computers.
Yesterday I managed to take a partner with me to a client meeting. It went well because of the two approaches that make transactions smooth. The first approach is what you control. Know your world, for us that means writing software, & understanding computers.
But that's not enough. You have to remember that computers are ultimately in service of people achieving real-life goals. So for most people, computers are an endless source of frustration, confusion, jargons, mystery and feeling stupid by people who bulldoze them.
Our approach is simple. I keep my technical knowledge in 2 buckets. If I'm talking to a person who knows what's going on we can speak faster and get to the pros and cons of using microservices vs monolithic applications because we can talk about use cases and scale.
When I'm talking to a nontechnical user, I deploy humor 100% of the time. Every analogy I give them to help them understand involves my attempt at making them laugh. When it works, they smile big, their eyes close and their whole body shakes. Their posture towards me changes.
It's a belly laugh. Humour really is a tool of the heavens. The response to humour is completely involuntary and spontaneous. Which means your jokes can't be planned. Your punch lines can't be prewritten. I incorporate the surrounding atmosphere.
I draw a bridge from their previous source of confusion to their new environment of understanding. I remind them that these technologies which were previously expensive and mysterious are just tools that if properly deploy will become their servants, not their master.
I use self-deprecating commentary along the way. Humour has many wonderful qualities. It releases tension, which means it's also effective at dispelling fear. I don't mean you have to be funny as a stand-up comedian. That's very difficult to do.
My jokes are funny at the moment with the people in the room at the time of the joke. So the trick is to take something they don't get or find annoying, explain it by simplifying & removing the jargon, and deliver it with humor. The minute they laugh, they'll leak emotional info.
They'll tell me things they really liked about the previous things they like. I can incorporate that into their new solutions. The minute they laugh, I check the room to make sure everyone is laughing. At that point, I ask 4 the business while they are in their state of euphoria.
Be honest, have integrity, maintain the room's dignity, & use the gift of the gods to bridge divides between your world and others. Ask for the business and deliver on your results. When you leave the meeting it's always good if you get a smile and a handshake, better with a hug.
