ChilliBox

I was hired by The Principal Financial Group to do a series of 4 programs for the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce.

The final program was a half day program designed to teach the ins and out of humor in the workplace. The previous 3 programs all were building toward this day as the attendees were numorous and very energized.

In the audience was a columnist from the Dallas Morning News, Diana Kunde and she penned this piece that was featured on the front page of the News. In the story she mentioned not only that I sweat a lot during a presentation, but that I indeed gave practical how to’s on how to add humor to your professional toolbox.

The crowd was filled with people from all walks of life. Mark Walker, a senior design engineer with Titus was in attendance. He commented:

“I would have been skeptical about how you would teach the use of humor. But I was pretty pleased with the number of practical how to’s. I have a pretty high standard for that, coming from an engineering background.”

In the artcile where I was featured, Diana Kunde also quoted Dr. Joel Goodman from the Humor Project, Dr. Terry Deal from Vanderbilt University and Herb Kelleher, CEO of Southwest Airlines. Some pretty nice company to be in. So what if I had to perspire a little to get there.

Read the entire article HERE.

Read more articles written about and by Gavin Jerome HERE.

I was lucky enough to have been featured in an article about humor in the workplace in the Chicago Tribune.

The author was Elaine Glusac and her focus was on humor being the next corporate craze. She notes that many business professional are improving their humor skills to get ahead in the workplace. A friend and collegue Susan Wilson, CSP said in the article:

“Humor is a great way to connect with people.”

I share a few tips such as when the best time to use humor is and the article closes with me saying:

“You can teach humor. It is like carpentry. I give them the tools, they build the house.”

Read the entire article HERE.

View more articles about and written by Gavin Jerome in our library section HERE.

Every now and then you meet a CEO who really UNDERSTANDS what this is all about.

Margaret Gustafson, CEO of Kewanee Hospital in Kewanee Illinios is just such a person. After seeing me present at the Rural Health Care Conference in Phoenix, Arizona, Margaret immediately hired the Morale Mechanic to boost the morale of her troops.

In what I remember is one of the coldest days in Midwest history, I drove to Kewanee and put on two different programs, one for staff and one for the board. There were worries whether or not such a message would be received well by the board and administration.

It was. In fact, they enjoyed it as much or more than the staff.

Margaret then booked me for a return engagement where I build upon the program I shared before and lightened and enlightened the staff once again in two separate programs. A facility like hers really has fantastic morale and I believe it trickles down from the top. Although it seems that sometimes I am preaching to the choir, a nice reminder of some of these morale boosting principles is good now and then.

And yes, the weather for the second program was ALMOST as cold as the first. Someday I would love to speak in Kewanee in the summertime…

What started out as a textbook for his class on standup comedy, The Comedy College Handbook has reached it’s 7th printing.

Filled with exercises and illustrations, this book promises to make you funnier. It can’t make you funny. Certain people suffer from such humor constipation that even a laxative of THIS magnitude will not unblock the system, but it will make you FUNNIER.

That begs the question, “Can humor be taught?”

Absolutely. Humor is a muscle, the more you use it the stronger it will become. Nobody is born funny. One of my favorite quotes on this subject comes from comedian extrodinaire Jerry Seinfeld. He recalls his early days in comedy and notes:

“I used to rush my jokes just to get to the funny one…”

This book takes you step by step, teaching you the basics of what humor is, why people laugh and how to create humor in four easy steps. It also reveals that there are only 7 forms a joke can take. If you learn these 7 tricks, creating punchlines will be a snap!

I sell this book via internet and at the back of the room after most of his presentation. It is a “must have” for any collection of humor books and instruction. Get your copy HERE.