Why You Might Need a Humor Audit: the Benefits of Laughter

Meet Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas, authors of Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life.

Dr. Jennifer Aaker teaches about human-centered AI, designing for VR/AR, and the power of story at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where she was awarded the MBA Professor of the Year, 2018–2019. Her work has been featured in The Economist, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, and Science.

Naomi Bagdonas is a lecturer at the Stanford GSB, an executive coach for leaders of Fortune 100 companies, and a media consultant for celebrities making appearances on shows from Saturday Night Live to The Today Show. She received her formal training at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She experiences first-hand the benefits of laughter, teaching improv at the San Francisco county jail and performing at comedy venues.

Nir Eyal: Why did you write this book?

Jennifer Aaker: Through our past experiences, we realized we’d sorely underestimated humor’s potential to transform work and life. For Naomi, it was about using humor as an outlet and asset to deal with the seriousness of work she was doing. For me, humor was never a focus initially but sure, I liked laughter (which is impossible to say without sounding…