The Remarkable Leadership Podcast

00:00:00:09 - 00:00:28:14
Kevin Eikenberry
We all appreciate humor. And most of us are envious of those we think of as humorous. Our guest today would say something different. That humor is human. But as leaders, I mean business is business and needs to be taken seriously, right? Today we're talking about how we can become better leaders through the effective and intentional use of humor.

00:00:28:16 - 00:00:49:00
Kevin Eikenberry
Prepare for a fun and fresh foray into how you can be a better leader by using humor to create trust, connection, and yes, even some levity.

00:00:49:02 - 00:01:20:17
Kevin Eikenberry
We do that again. Three. Two. One. We all appreciate humor, and most of us are envious of those we think of as humorous. But our guest today would say something different. That humor is human. And so today we're talking about how we can be better leaders through the use of humor. Prepare for fun and a fresh foray into how you can be a better leader by being a more humorous leader.

00:01:20:23 - 00:01:44:01
Kevin Eikenberry
Welcome to another episode of the Remarkable Leadership Podcast, where we are helping leaders like you grow personally and professionally to lead more effectively and make a bigger, positive difference for your team, organization and the world. If you are listening to this podcast in the future, you could join us live. And to do that, you have to find out when we're doing these live.

00:01:44:05 - 00:02:05:14
Kevin Eikenberry
And so the best way to do that is to join us on our Facebook or LinkedIn groups. Just two of the platforms where these are live streamed. You can do that by going to remarkable podcast.com/facebook or remarkable podcast.com/linked in. And if you do that you'll find out when these are happening. When you can join us. Hope that you will do that.

00:02:05:16 - 00:02:29:06
Kevin Eikenberry
And then you would be with us live today. You're not if you're on the podcast, but you're going to get the chance to meet this gentleman I'm going to introduce to you right now. His name is Adam. Christine. He is a humor expert and the founder and CEO of Clean Comedians. Using the power of laughter to inspire, connect and create unforgettable experiences without the need for profanity or politics.

00:02:29:11 - 00:02:53:10
Kevin Eikenberry
Adam has been featured on Entertainment Tonight and in more than 100 podcasts, TV and radio programs. His comedy has delighted over a million people across 49 states. You've got one missing, Adam, as well as Canada, Europe and Asia. He's also the author of the brand new book The Laughter Factor The Five Humor Tactics to Lift, to link, lift and Lead.

00:02:53:16 - 00:03:00:21
Kevin Eikenberry
So, Adam, thanks for being here. Glad to have you. And we share a publisher. And so that's one thing we have in common. I'm glad that you're here.

00:03:00:23 - 00:03:12:05
Adam Christing
Hey, thanks a lot, Kevin, I appreciate that. That intro, the one state that's missing is Maine. I've been to entertaining and motivating in 49 of the 50. So maybe.

00:03:12:07 - 00:03:17:09
Kevin Eikenberry
Where are the people in Bangor? We need the people from Bangor to bang your phone.

00:03:17:10 - 00:03:21:22
Adam Christing
We need, like, a laughter lobster fest or something to make it happen, but.

00:03:21:23 - 00:03:36:23
Kevin Eikenberry
Oh, you know, alliteration. You see, I use that. You may have noticed I used alliteration already, and it's not really in the book, although it's one of my favorite things. Maybe it's not humorous, except to Kevin, I don't know. So, listen, I want to dive into a lot of this stuff about humor and laughter and all that.

00:03:36:23 - 00:03:44:07
Kevin Eikenberry
But I want to start by having you tell us what the big idea, Adam, of the book is. What's the big idea of the laughter factor?

00:03:44:09 - 00:04:15:07
Adam Christing
Great question. I think the big idea is that humor is a shortcut to trust. And as leaders, I think our currency is trust. And obviously leaders need to worry about getting results. And maybe there's management, of course, casting a vision, but you can't really do that unless you bring your people together. And so humor is just a fantastic way to get people feeling a sense of camaraderie and connection.

00:04:15:08 - 00:04:35:08
Adam Christing
And even though Mother Theresa was not a stand up comedian, she was an incredible leader. And she said something that I mentioned in the book, a smile is the shortest distance between two people. So I believe we can. You read the subtitle of my book, Kevin, which is an alliteration link, lift and lead. I think link comes first.

00:04:35:10 - 00:04:44:15
Adam Christing
We link hearts and and emotions and a sense of, unity. And then we can better lead people.

00:04:44:17 - 00:05:05:09
Kevin Eikenberry
So one of the things that I, that I like to think about, and I think about this when I'm, picking guests who pitch to be on the show and I and I think about that, when I think about the books that I choose to read that aren't, going to be on the show. And the question I often ask is, so why this person?

00:05:05:11 - 00:05:16:00
Kevin Eikenberry
So that's the big idea that, humor builds trust. And so why you why are you the guy to write this book?

00:05:16:02 - 00:05:26:09
Adam Christing
Kevin, I'm really not the guy who wrote the book under a pseudonym. I'm actually managing a trucking company. No, I'm the guy. Because I've made every year.

00:05:26:11 - 00:05:32:19
Kevin Eikenberry
Nothing wrong with trucking companies, by the way. No, it's it's I was I interacted with one of our clients this morning who leads a trucking company.

00:05:32:19 - 00:06:01:00
Adam Christing
One of my best friends is a trucker, and he's one of the funniest guys I know. Shout out to David Donovan. No, I'm the guy because I've made every mistake you can possibly make in on stage, on live podcasts, emceeing events, being hired as a keynote speaker. And so I've, inadvertently offended people. I haven't slipped into profanity, thankfully, but, I've done jokes that where the timing was off for whatever reason.

00:06:01:01 - 00:06:31:20
Adam Christing
And so, because I've given more than 4000, human presentations, I've just really learned what works and what doesn't work. And what I think we uncovered with the book is just like there are, according to Doctor Gary Chapman, five Love Languages. There are five humor tactics. And I like the phrase laugh languages. And so you don't have to be a professional comedian or, a standup or a hilarious storyteller even to tap into the power of humor.

00:06:31:22 - 00:06:58:03
Adam Christing
And I think you mentioned this earlier. I love this concept that we're human beings. So because you're human, you do have a sense of humor. It might be, hidden. You might not be aware of it. You might feel embarrassed by it, or you just might not feel comfortable using it. But when you tap into your way, when you find your funny, it really can enhance your ability as a leader or manager of people.

00:06:58:05 - 00:07:20:05
Kevin Eikenberry
So, you know, when I, when I got the book in the mail and I started looking at it and before I said thumbs up, let's tell Lisa that the producer that we should have you on. I was thinking that, you know, as a keynote speaker person that the book might come from that perspective and that certain that perspective is certainly in here.

00:07:20:05 - 00:07:42:05
Kevin Eikenberry
That's your background. That's a big part of what you do. But you've done a good job already of helping us see. Excuse me. Why this matters to us as leaders specifically, one of the things that I often hear from leaders when we end up talking about something like humor, is, well, it's isn't it kind of risky? I mean, obviously we have a lot of people.

00:07:42:05 - 00:08:02:06
Kevin Eikenberry
I mentioned this in the opening that that say, well, I wish I had sincere I wish I, I wish I could tell jokes, I wish that was me, it's not me, etc., etc. but that's not the only source of the risk. Just talk about as if I'm a sitting leader in an organization and I'm listening to you talk about, well, laughter and humor.

00:08:02:08 - 00:08:16:10
Kevin Eikenberry
And I'm thinking, well, number one, this is serious work. And number two, if I do it, isn't it a big risk if it doesn't go well? So can you talk about those two sort of practical points before we dive in?

00:08:16:12 - 00:08:35:00
Adam Christing
Yes. Those are really practical points. I mean, one of the golden rules in the book, I sprinkled tips and tactics throughout the book, and one of them is, if in doubt, leave it out so there can be a lot at stake. You're you're leaving a sales meeting, you're in a conference room, you're giving an annual update. And so there's a lot at stake.

00:08:35:00 - 00:08:55:02
Adam Christing
So if in doubt, leave it out. At the same time, it reminds me of when people say, you know, I'm just not good with remembering names and the truth is they probably believe that. And so then it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, right? And so what happens is we don't take yeah, we don't take a moment and say, okay, that's Kevin and lock in, okay.

00:08:55:02 - 00:09:16:15
Adam Christing
He's got glasses, he's got cool hair. I'm going to I'm going to like make him I'm going to take a moment to prioritize learning Kevin's name in the same way. I love Mark Twain's quote. He said, it takes me three weeks to prepare a good impromptu speech. And so you can be intentional with your humor and say, it may not me, it may not be that I'm doing a joke or a funny skit.

00:09:16:15 - 00:09:32:16
Adam Christing
It might be that I'm showing a funny slide, or I'm having a The Worst Dad joke contest, or I'm doing an icebreaker. But you, as a leader, can be a facilitator of fun, even when you feel like stand up comedy is not your thing.

00:09:32:18 - 00:10:17:13
Kevin Eikenberry
Yeah, and I love that. And I'm, we're going to get into some of those points in a second. I, I want to get to a line that you said in the book that, I won't get quite right, but, you said there's only a couple times when humor might not apply. And you said funerals, maybe, and break ups and and the reason that that struck struck me, is that, when I think about my father's funeral, and I think about the, the, the various eulogies that were given for him, the things that everyone still talks about are the things that were funny, the funny stories that people told about

00:10:17:15 - 00:10:38:13
Kevin Eikenberry
my dad or being with my dad. So I think that that just reminded that line reminded me is that, you know, if it's done from the heart and it's done with good intention, obviously intention, we can we can mess up even when our intentions are good. Yet that I think that the number of times when it doesn't apply are really relatively small.

00:10:38:15 - 00:10:45:04
Adam Christing
Yes. I, I'm sorry about your your dad's passing. I lost my dad about six months ago, and.

00:10:45:06 - 00:10:47:04
Kevin Eikenberry
If I hadn't known that, I wouldn't have said that.

00:10:47:04 - 00:11:08:05
Adam Christing
No, no, no, he he taught me how to tell jokes. My mom is the funniest person I've ever known. She's like, a modern day, you know, Carol Burnett, for your listeners and viewers who remember that show. But just like you're talking about, it was almost like we put the fun in funeral. We didn't try. We didn't, like, say, we're going to do stand up comedy.

00:11:08:05 - 00:11:33:01
Adam Christing
It was it was just appropriate honoring someone. And so one of the last languages I'm sure we'll get into these is called poke. And the goal there is actually to celebrate other people by pointing out quirky things, like, my dad loved to go out to breakfast pretty much every day. He'd go to breakfast. So, we had funny stories about, you know, how he would mop up, the egg yolks with his toast.

00:11:33:01 - 00:12:02:20
Adam Christing
And it's like it's not stand up comedy material, but it's endearing. And so going back to the power of intention, if you think, okay, I just have to make them fall out of their chair laughing, you're probably setting yourself up and your audience up for disappointment. But if you think I'm going to smile first and I'm going to enjoy what I have to share, and I'm going to plan some fun moments in my in my presentation or my update, you really can sort of engineer orchestrate good times for people.

00:12:02:20 - 00:12:34:17
Adam Christing
And so, sometimes I call this Kevin planned spontaneity. So I talk about this in the book, one of the most boring personalities, I remember was happened to be a man named Earl who was also one of the world's greatest sleight of hand artists. With a deck of cards. He could blow your mind. So he didn't tell jokes he didn't wear funny outfits, but he would make a card disappear or or, you know, change colors in your hand.

00:12:34:17 - 00:13:03:23
Adam Christing
And I noticed as a kid growing up near Hollywoods, Hollywood magic shop, people were busting up and I started thinking, well, that's not him trying to be funny. It's him using planned funny spontaneity. Surprise! The power of surprise. So at the heart of humor is surprise. And you can try this as a as a business leader. Send someone a funny, birthday card instead of just buying the typical you're great, have a great birthday.

00:13:04:01 - 00:13:16:18
Adam Christing
You can even order like half birthday cards that are like cut in half six months out from their birthday. I guarantee you they're going to smile and laugh, and more importantly, they're going to feel celebrated.

00:13:16:20 - 00:13:40:12
Kevin Eikenberry
Yeah. So we go back to humor as a builder of trust, humor as a builder of connection. I think that's excellent. You know, we've now mentioned briefly two of the five laugh lang laugh languages surprise and poke. It's actually poke that I want to spend some time on, because I think that. It's one that we have to be careful with.

00:13:40:14 - 00:13:59:03
Kevin Eikenberry
I think it can be incredibly valuable. And I think it requires some skill to do it well. And I mean, obviously, you're the expert. You're not me. But let's talk. Let's just talk about poke. What you mean by this as one of the laugh languages. So let's make sure people are clear on it, because I'm kind of ahead of the curve because I've read the book.

00:13:59:05 - 00:14:04:04
Kevin Eikenberry
Let's talk about that first. And then I have a couple of questions about it.

00:14:04:06 - 00:14:21:14
Adam Christing
Yeah, I would say of the five humor tactics, poke is the trickiest because, although sarcasm is funny, some people say, hey, my my love language is sarcasm, but as a leader, sarcasm is very dangerous because there's, there's almost always a putdown.

00:14:21:16 - 00:14:23:01
Kevin Eikenberry
Built in. It's in there.

00:14:23:07 - 00:14:45:18
Adam Christing
It's it's it's in there. However, if you start with the biggest target, you know, the one looking at you in the mirror, that's a great place to really learn how to do poke. And that's to poke fun at yourself. So for example, in my you mentioned, our company, Clean comedians.com is the company we came up with.

00:14:45:18 - 00:15:12:01
Adam Christing
The motto I came up with the motto was very proud of this humor doesn't have to be filthy to be funny. And we had that motto printed on about 100 brochures. We mailed it out to corporations and theaters, colleges. But there was a typo I didn't catch. And so here's what it said clean comedians is an association of professional comedians who believe it doesn't have to be funny.

00:15:12:03 - 00:15:13:11
Adam Christing
Just kind of takes the pressure off.

00:15:13:11 - 00:15:18:22
Kevin Eikenberry
And it took them, kind of took the, the there's no punch line there.

00:15:19:00 - 00:15:52:09
Adam Christing
That's right. When I share that, when I share that on stage, people, I don't feel like they're laughing at me. They're laughing with me because I am having fun with one of my own flops. And so when I consult with leaders, what blows them away is when they go back to maybe their earlier work as a manager or as a sales person, and they share a story of of when they got a rejection from a customer, or when the company suffered a big loss and they take ownership of it and point out their own foibles or failures.

00:15:52:11 - 00:16:04:07
Adam Christing
The opposite of what we think will happen happens. People say, oh, I can relate to her now. I want to follow her now. She's human, she's authentic.

00:16:04:09 - 00:16:28:07
Kevin Eikenberry
That's really where I wanted to go because, so many leaders feel so much pressure. Much of it, but not all of it necessarily self-imposed. That I'm supposed to have the answers. I'm supposed to get it right and, like, well, all of us, you know, to our friend will say, like, I make I learn from my mistakes.

00:16:28:07 - 00:16:54:03
Kevin Eikenberry
None of us want to show them to our teams. And what you're describing as a way to be self-deprecating and at the same time sharing the sharing the authenticity, but sharing the lesson that, hey, that's okay. So what else would you say? Well, I have found the poke to to help because you said this is tricky. How do we do it better?

00:16:54:05 - 00:17:14:19
Adam Christing
Well, first on on the self-deprecating I prefer the word self facing I. It's not that big of a difference. But you want to what? Here's what you want. Avoid self-defeating humor. You don't want to tell a story where you didn't learn a lesson, where you're ripping on your own character or your own integrity. That's not good. But for flops are funny.

00:17:14:19 - 00:17:38:14
Adam Christing
I mean, you think of, slapstick comedy. It's just we're always laughing at people like Stan. Laurel is probably my favorite comedian in human history, Laurel and Hardy. And he always made himself and his partner the butt of the joke. And you knew that. They knew they're they're creating this stuff. And so when you can make yourself the source of the humor, you really can't go wrong if you keep it self-effacing.

00:17:38:14 - 00:17:56:19
Adam Christing
Now, where it's really tricky is when we turn it and tease other people. And rather than just talk theoretically with you, I'll give you an example. Last weekend I was hosting an event in Florida, about 150 people. I was the emcee and comedians call this piece crowd work where, you know, I've got a handheld microphone. I'm going into the audience.

00:17:56:19 - 00:18:13:13
Adam Christing
I don't know what's going to happen now. This is a friendly audience. This was a, private fundraising event. Super nice people, no hecklers. But I just walked up to this gentleman. I forget his name. Let's say Rich and I go, hey, Rich, we've got free time this afternoon after the session, what do you think you'll be doing?

00:18:13:13 - 00:18:33:21
Adam Christing
And he said, I think I'll be doing the hokey pokey or just some crazy thing. And he. And he said it in such an endearing way that throughout the rest of the conference, I kept poking about that. I say, we've added a seminar with Rich. He'll be doing a thing, how to harness your hokey pokey, you know, whatever.

00:18:33:23 - 00:18:58:12
Adam Christing
And it just became this running joke. But I was poking at him after I knew that he would like it. And so think about nicknames. Don't call someone a nickname unless you know they like it. Is it is it affirming? I have a wonderful assistant named Marsha, and she likes the nickname blaze. In fact, she even has it on her license plate, so I'm not poking fun at her.

00:18:58:12 - 00:19:23:14
Adam Christing
When I call her blaze, I'm celebrating her. So what I like to do is encourage people to find what's actually going well and celebrate that. Now, if someone has, they wear a funky sweater. They're known for flashy shoes. They say certain expressions all the time. If you sense that they actually appreciate that being mentioned. You can have so much fun with that.

00:19:23:16 - 00:19:45:12
Kevin Eikenberry
Yeah, I love that. And that's where I wanted you to go. I wanted you to think about how do we how do we how do we poke without being critical, without being cynical, without being sarcastic. And that was a very, very helpful. So we've got these five laugh languages. Everybody surprise and poke. We've talked about and you've just hinted in this last story.

00:19:45:12 - 00:19:57:06
Kevin Eikenberry
And I'm about the third type, which is what you call the in-joke. So let's talk about that one a little bit more because there's there's risk here too if you get the ins and outs wrong. Right.

00:19:57:08 - 00:20:15:14
Adam Christing
Yes. You know, years ago, another of my humor heroes, Steve Martin, did this joke. I think it's on his first album and he's performing in San Francisco. And he says, hey, I heard some plumbers are in town. And he did this long winded joke about, you know, this. Lorne's supervisor was out on a sprinkler maintenance job. He just did this, like inside humor about plumbers.

00:20:15:14 - 00:20:34:01
Adam Christing
And the end of the joke. There was zero laughter. And he said, are those plumbers in town this week or is that next week? And so the key to in-jokes is knowing your audience. Who's in the room? What are your shared experiences? One of the things I do as a speaker is, I talk about acronyms a lot.

00:20:34:01 - 00:20:58:10
Adam Christing
Like I'll say, I fly a lot, through Atlanta because I fly Delta. So I'll say, turns out Delta stands for Do Every Leg through Atlanta. And that might get a nice chuckle. But then I do this and I take all 26 letters of the English alphabet, put them up on the screen, and I do an acronym about the company or the organization where I'm highlighting all these things about them.

00:20:58:12 - 00:21:20:01
Adam Christing
And usually the x is x, y, z is, you know, with extreme youthful zeal or something like that. But people feel celebrated. And back to the point of this laugh, a laughter language is they feel like, oh, he gets us, he celebrates us, he knows us. And so these are jokes and bits that would never play in the theater or in a Netflix special.

00:21:20:01 - 00:21:46:15
Adam Christing
But for your group, you feel like, wow, we're a special team. Sometimes there's a little bit of an us versus them. So sometimes as a group, you're poking some fun at a competitor. You're share a shared frustration like, hey, the last time we got a new printer was, you know, 2002. That's not funny to you and I, but in a group that's experiencing that frustration that that can be comedy gold.

00:21:46:17 - 00:22:10:21
Kevin Eikenberry
Right? You said something else. I think it's really important. And I've sort of mentioned it at the start that, while if you are an aspiring keynote speaker or master of ceremonies, there's great value in this conversation in this book. But as you said, you're we're not shooting here as leaders. We're not shooting for a Netflix special. We're not shooting for standup.

00:22:10:21 - 00:22:21:23
Kevin Eikenberry
We're shooting for the smile, the chuckle, the the connection that comes from humor inside of our team. Fair.

00:22:22:01 - 00:22:46:18
Adam Christing
Very fair. I think as leaders, what we're shooting for is inspiring laughter and life change and inspiring laughter. Again, doesn't mean that you necessarily get the applause. It might be like, coming up with the craziest trophies for the annual sales meeting. And as dumb as those might seem to someone outside your organization, inside your organization, like, I can't wait till next year.

00:22:46:20 - 00:23:09:03
Adam Christing
Like I was at an event one time where they spent, I think, close to $1 million on an annual retreat, special rental cars, everything was cushy, unbelievable meals. There were a couple private jets, but what they remembered was some silly skits that the managers did. That's what created the the memory that they would talk about for years to come.

00:23:09:05 - 00:23:12:22
Kevin Eikenberry
Not all that, not all of that. Right? Not all the dollars. Right?

00:23:13:00 - 00:23:41:20
Adam Christing
I mean, it does help to be in a nice place in a way that I do think people make a mistake. As leaders, and they think that it's where you meet that's so crucial. I do think that's important, but I think the why is almost always galvanizing our group together and humor. It's not the star of the show, but it's like the cement it it glues our hearts and minds together.

00:23:41:22 - 00:24:01:06
Adam Christing
Which reminds me, I wanted to share with you one of the surprising things I discovered in my research for the book was how science is just showing over and over again that we feel before we think. And sometimes as leaders, we just get into thinking mode. I've got to come up with the strategy. I've got to share the strategy.

00:24:01:06 - 00:24:25:07
Adam Christing
Well, that's important, but you need to bring people together. And humor is like magic when it comes to making people feel like we're experiencing something as a group that no one else knows about. We are. And that goes back to the power of in-jokes. Nothing says friendship like a joke that only three people get.

00:24:25:09 - 00:24:49:01
Kevin Eikenberry
Yep. That's awesome. There are two more languages. And the last one is amplify. But the one I really want you to. And that one. Well, maybe we should spend a minute there. I think about that as the longer version of humor. The story, if you will. Let's talk about amplify, because maybe this is the one that might be most accessible for some of us.

00:24:49:03 - 00:25:09:14
Adam Christing
Yeah, I think it really is, because, I think human beings, we're all prone to exaggeration. And that that would be another word for this humor tactic. Amplify is exaggerate. So here's a secret trick way of doing this is take a shared frustration in your company or in the financial market or whatever it is, and just amplify it.

00:25:09:14 - 00:25:31:01
Adam Christing
So for example, if it's really cold, you're in Minnesota and it's already getting super cold in November, let's say, or this thing, man, it's really cold outside. You might amplify that. Just amp it up and say, my Starbucks is selling coffee on a stick. I just made that up. But you know, take a frustration and amplify it.

00:25:31:01 - 00:25:55:20
Adam Christing
And you can study other people who do this in their writing, or arguably the greatest stand up of the last 50 years, or certainly more in the top three would be Robin Williams. And what people don't know is he had a book that he would travel with, like a notebook full of stories, jokes, one liners, and he would wait for the right moment on stage to unleash these things.

00:25:55:20 - 00:26:16:00
Adam Christing
But they were already in his mind. And then he would just amplify him. He would just put it on steroids. So if you have this life language, chances are if you get frustrated at the grocery store, you can turn that into this epic tale that sounds like, you know, you were hiking in the Himalayas when really there were five people ahead of you in the checkout line, right?

00:26:16:00 - 00:26:43:00
Adam Christing
So exaggerate the details, exaggerate the pain. And one tip I'll give you is if storytelling and amplifying is your, your knack with humor is don't jump on your own punchline. Give it room. So if the end of a story is one word or one sentence, people will will the walk on it. They'll say the joke, and then they'll say something like, do you get it?

00:26:43:00 - 00:26:57:01
Adam Christing
Or what do you think is you have to as a leader, you have to kind of sit for a moment and you'll usually be rewarded with laughter. And now if they don't laugh, that becomes funny to yeah.

00:26:57:03 - 00:27:18:09
Kevin Eikenberry
That's what happens to me some of the time. Adam. I try and then and then I just then I become self-effacing, about it. So, you know, there you go. So the the fifth language, although we did it out of order, I don't know that it matters. Is wordplay, one of my favorites of the five.

00:27:18:11 - 00:27:21:13
Kevin Eikenberry
Talk about wordplay. Give us a couple of examples.

00:27:21:15 - 00:27:42:17
Adam Christing
Well, maybe my favorite wordplay master of all time is a comedian that a lot of people don't know. But one of the greats is Stephen. Right? Just a master of language. Like he would say. Well, part of it was his delivery was very deadpan. So he would say something like, you know, I put spot remover on my dog now he's gone.

00:27:42:19 - 00:28:11:12
Adam Christing
So it's wordplay is just clever banter, language, quotations, puns, even dad jokes fall in this category. You might be strong in this area, Kevin, because you're an author and you love alliteration. And so I'll give you an example that's very practical for business is test language. So let's say you're seeing an email out, that's really stakes are high play with option A and option B.

00:28:11:12 - 00:28:33:20
Adam Christing
So for example in my company Clean Comedians, I thought I was so clever. And I came up with this headline, we were sending this to Las Vegas, convention bookers. And it said, don't gamble on the entertainment at your convention. This is pretty clever. And then I said, well, let's test this other one. And the other one said, give your group the gift of laughter.

00:28:33:22 - 00:28:59:16
Adam Christing
That's not funny. But it had this ring to it. And so my point here is find the humor that's yours. If word plays your thing, practice upon a dad joke, a story that's, based on, you know, a rhyme or something like that. And test it as a leader. Test it in in situations where the stakes are lower with family, with friends, with associates.

00:28:59:16 - 00:29:12:10
Adam Christing
So when it comes time for the big awards program, you already know it's going to work. Like there are jokes that I just know 99 times out of 100, I'm going to get a laugh because I've tested it.

00:29:12:11 - 00:29:47:10
Kevin Eikenberry
So, if I were to start to put a wrap around all the stuff that we said, and I'm and I'm talking to all of you as leaders listening, one of the things Adam, that you said was the idea of planned spontaneity. And think about everybody. How many times Adam has said something that related to that, whether it's testing it, whether that's Robin Williams and his book, whether it's whatever it is, like there's been 4 or 5 times that fundamentally it's come back to like, let me prepare for this, rather than making it, having to force something in a moment.

00:29:47:12 - 00:30:05:11
Kevin Eikenberry
And I will bet you two that the people that you think are so skilled at it, including the examples Adam is given, are skilled not because they did it off the cuff, but because they had planned it, because they had practiced it, because they had been thoughtful and intentional about it.

00:30:05:13 - 00:30:30:07
Adam Christing
And by the way, sometimes that can be as simple as preparing a question as not doing a joke. It's not doing a comedy bit. So let's say I want to delete a ten minute, icebreaker with a group of associates. Or I might ask a simple question like, what's the craziest holiday gift you've ever received? That's not a funny question, but the answers will be funny.

00:30:30:07 - 00:30:54:06
Adam Christing
Someone will say, my wife put a potato in my stocking, or my kids, you know, but broke a bunch of crayons and pretty soon you've got ten minutes. I guarantee you probably have some heart touching stories, too. If you ask the question. Most memorable holiday gifts? There'll be some very meaningful ones. But I can get ten, 15 minutes out of something like that with with an audience by just preparing a thoughtful question.

00:30:54:08 - 00:30:55:14
Adam Christing
You know.

00:30:55:16 - 00:31:05:12
Kevin Eikenberry
So the question comes in and before we start to wrap up, I'm going to have you take us. How do you gracefully recover, or recover gracefully when a joke doesn't land?

00:31:05:14 - 00:31:07:19
Adam Christing
Great question. Kevin. Any others?

00:31:07:21 - 00:31:09:07
Kevin Eikenberry
Nope. That's the one I got.

00:31:09:09 - 00:31:33:13
Adam Christing
Okay. Well, here's the thing. Here's first what not to do. First, don't blame the listeners. You know, if you say to someone, get it, chances are they didn't get it right. So there is that awkward, delicious moment where you drop the last line and you just wait. And the longer you wait when they do get it, the bigger the laugh.

00:31:33:13 - 00:31:54:20
Adam Christing
Now, if you if you wait more than a few seconds and there's no laugh, you can laugh at yourself. So sometimes I'll pretend like this is a handheld microphone. I might take that. If I'm on stage, I might say, well, that's going out of the speech and cross it out. So now I'm using self-effacing humor, but chances are you will get a laugh if you don't step on the moment.

00:31:54:22 - 00:32:14:08
Adam Christing
And like you said earlier, if you don't get the I know I'm aging myself with this reference, but Johnny Carson was the king of late night talk. He got bigger laughs when he didn't get laughs by just by just sitting with it for a moment. The audience would just, so enjoy that moment and they will with you too.

00:32:14:10 - 00:32:31:21
Adam Christing
And so one more tip don't laugh at your own jokes. Sometimes in our nervousness, we'll say a joke and then we'll just start laughing. Let the audience the straighter face you deliver a punchline with or story. Conclusion. Bigger chance. You're going to get a laugh.

00:32:31:23 - 00:32:56:01
Kevin Eikenberry
All right. Is there one thing as we start to wrap up, Adam, is there one thing? And I know there's there's never one thing, right? But is there one thing that you would encourage everyone who's watching or listening to do first on their own journey, to, to put laughter and humor into their work as a leader, where would you ask them or encourage them to start?

00:32:56:03 - 00:33:17:11
Adam Christing
I think it starts with thinking about what you enjoy, because chances are you will find your laugh language, your go to way. If you want to find your funny, think about what makes you laugh, what you enjoy. And it might be visual stuff like I love variety, I love comedy, juggling and magic and vine shows, but it might be the one liner.

00:33:17:11 - 00:33:41:01
Adam Christing
Chances are what you enjoy is what you will employ to make other people laugh. And, And one other thing. This would be a little like Leadership Advance. I know your listeners are all about being remarkable leaders to go to the next level. I've listened more people into laughter than I've talked into laughter. And here's what I mean.

00:33:41:03 - 00:33:56:15
Adam Christing
If you can listen for your associates, your customers, your your coworkers, what are their laugh languages and then feed them that. So if you have a puncher at your office and you give them a book of dad jokes, you might have just made their week or month, right?

00:33:56:17 - 00:34:20:22
Kevin Eikenberry
Well, yeah. Any, any communication that's focused on them more than on us is going to have a better chance of success, including humor. I love that, and, there's a question. And I didn't even realize till just this very moment the paradoxical nature of this question, because there are two questions that I pretty much ask everyone, always, and one of them, you know, is coming in a second.

00:34:20:22 - 00:34:27:11
Kevin Eikenberry
The other one, you don't know. I always ask people this, and now I'm talking to you. It seems funny to me to ask this question, what do you do for fun?

00:34:27:13 - 00:34:48:08
Adam Christing
Yes. Sometimes what I do for fun is, is anything that's not forcing me to be funny, like, it's crazy, but I love disc golf. I like playing internet, chess. And I play where each side gets three minutes. And so it's kind of this adrenaline rush of, Will the game get done? I love classic rock and roll.

00:34:48:08 - 00:35:12:23
Adam Christing
I'm a Bob Dylan fanatic. I love his lyrics. And by the way, some of them are very funny and very witty. But I'll be really transparent with with you, Kevin, and with your audience. I think leaders sometimes we're wounded healers. Right. So some of the saddest people I know are comedians, and I think it's because we can give out what we also need.

00:35:13:01 - 00:35:22:23
Adam Christing
So there are times when I have to say, you know what, I don't need to read another philosophy book or marketing book. I'm going to read something that I actually enjoy.

00:35:23:01 - 00:35:26:13
Kevin Eikenberry
Which takes me to my last question. So what are you reading these days?

00:35:26:15 - 00:35:52:13
Adam Christing
Well, not only am I reading a classic, but, this you're the first person I'm sharing this with. In fact, my wife doesn't even know. But I bought this thing on eBay. EBay? That is a collection of Dale Carnegie's, speaking course from, like, the 1940s or 50s. And so I'm going back to Carnegie, who wrote a book that sold a measly 30 million copies, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

00:35:52:15 - 00:36:16:03
Adam Christing
And it's just a great reminder to me that in the end, it's how we make people feel. And I'll never forget. I don't think it's in that book, How to Win Friends and Influence People. But I read somewhere where Carnegie was asked Dale, how do you sell so much? And he said, Because I'm sold. And so it's reminding me of the power of your conviction.

00:36:16:05 - 00:36:27:19
Adam Christing
You believe you can use humor? You can. If you believe you can lead people. You can if you believe you can bring people together. You can. If you're intentional about it.

00:36:27:21 - 00:36:45:00
Kevin Eikenberry
I love that. So. So, Adam, you came on to share your gave, gave us your time to share your talent and to give us wisdom. So where can people learn more about you, connect with you? Where do you want to point people? Where can they get the book? I'll hold the book up for those who are watching while you do that.

00:36:45:02 - 00:37:05:11
Adam Christing
Oh thank you. I appreciate it and I love that your book is marked up. I had a mentor who said, when you mark in a book, a book marks in you. But the book book's available on Amazon, of course. And if you want to take a free quiz in four minutes, you can discover your last language. You just go to the laughter factor.com.

00:37:05:13 - 00:37:09:03
Kevin Eikenberry
The laughter factor.com and you or.

00:37:09:04 - 00:37:12:01
Adam Christing
The the the you said r.

00:37:12:03 - 00:37:14:15
Kevin Eikenberry
Factor.com. Sorry about that. And you.

00:37:14:15 - 00:37:29:04
Adam Christing
Said it right. You said it right. But, I say that because I really have noticed people getting such a kick when they go to that site. They can take the quiz. It's free and in like four minutes you'll discover what your go to laugh languages.

00:37:29:06 - 00:37:46:21
Kevin Eikenberry
You told me, before we started that year and you said. You said here too, that you're active on LinkedIn so people can find you there. And I encourage people to do exactly that as well. So before we go, everybody, I have a question for you. I'm done asking questions of Adam. Enough of Adam. I have a question for all of you.

00:37:46:21 - 00:38:05:05
Kevin Eikenberry
It's the same question I ask you. Every single episode is simple. The question is simple. Now what? But the answer is important. Your answer to that question is what will make the last 30 minutes of your life more valuable? Which is, what am I going to do with what I got? What ideas am I going to take action on?

00:38:05:05 - 00:38:22:21
Kevin Eikenberry
Because until you act, it won't really make a difference. I encourage you, this should be a fun set of things to go try. I encourage you to do that and I encourage you to come back next week. So Adam, thanks so much for being here. It was a pleasure to have you. I enjoyed our time together. I hope you did as well.

00:38:22:22 - 00:38:25:08
Adam Christing
I had a great time. Thanks so much.

00:38:25:10 - 00:38:39:00
Kevin Eikenberry
And so everybody, if you enjoyed this, you enjoy next week. It won't be about humor, but we'll be back next week as we are every week. I hope you'll be back to join us wherever you're watching or listening, make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss another episode of the Remarkable Leadership Podcast.