Humor at Work: Creative Bits & Bites

Published: Wed, 07/31/13

Inspiring Workplaces

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Humor at Work

ISSUE 499 - July 31, 2013

Creative Bits & Bites

Creativity isn't a trait you are simply born with: Harvard professor Clayton Christensen says that 80% of a person's creativity is a learned or acquired skill.
The most playful animals have the largest brains - play and intelligence are highly correlated.
A University of Illinois study found that there is an optimum noise level that supports creative thinking: the level of ambient noise typical of a bustling coffee shop being ideal.
If you allow ideas to incubate for a while you have a 33% increased chance of making creative connections between previously unrelated ideas.
Google employees post their ideas on-line. Colleagues then rank the ideas from 1-10 to help determine whether a seed of an idea should be actively pursued.
Light classical music is thought to be the style of music most conducive to creative thinking.
A study by Radboud University in the Netherlands found that preparing a meal in reverse order stimulates creative thinking by helping people break out of routine cognitive patterns.
It takes a lot of creative swings to produce a hit: Writers for the satirical newspaper the Onion pitch about 600 headlines each week to find the 18 final headlines they'll actually use.
Scientists have found that lying down can increase thinking speeds by a factor of 10. Lying down lowers the level of noraadrenalin, a hormone that reduces people's attention to detail and reason. People in the studies were able to problem solve faster lying down than when they stood up or sat. (And all this time I thought it was the three-martini lunches that were causing Mad Men's Don Draper to lie down so often!)

		Mike's Fun at Work Tip

It's vacation time, so remember to add a little fun and personality to your auto-reply e-mail message before heading away. You could even hold a contest for the most creative and fun auto-reply message in your workplace. Here's one I came upon recently: "Depending on who you are I'm sorry to have missed you. I've been kidnapped by three small children (fortunately my own) and one very patient woman (fortunately my wife) and will not be back at work until August 15. If it's urgent you can contact my lovely and talented assistant, however if it's very urgent might I suggest calling 911?" (If you have any examples you've seen, please pass them along!)
		Quote of the Week

"It's easier to be free and loose, to be yourself, after laughing with the ones you love." Andre Agassi
		It's a Wacky World

August is here! If you're a pessimist you might bemoan the fact that summer is half over; an optimist might relish the fact that there's an entire month of summer fun still to be had, including celebrating some of these wacky August theme days: August 5: International Beer Day August 7: Particularly Preposterous Packaging Day August 8: Sneak Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day August 10: Duran Duran Appreciation Day August 13: International Left-Hander's Day August 16: Hug Your Boss Day August 24: Pluto Demoted Day August 25: Kiss and Make Up Day August 28: Race Your Mouse Around the Icons Day For the complete list of wacky, unusual, offbeat theme days, cruise on over to August 2013 Theme Days.

Cost Savings to Book Mike

New Brunswick: Sept. 23

Toronto/Ottawa: Sept. 27 - Oct.1

Kelowna/Penticton: Week of October 14

Contact info@mikekerr.com for details.

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Why humor at Work? Because work matters! A new animated episode summarizes the impact of work on our lives: Why Humor at Work?

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