The Levity Effect: Why it Pays to Lighten Up - by Adrian Gostick & Scott Christopher
Published by Wiley, May 08
Most people think work is serious business. But ironically, data on one million employees proves instead that being less serious at work is something to take seriously: entertaining workplaces have more loyal employees and customers; leaders who are lighthearted earn more money and more trust; and employees who are considered humorous are vastly more likely to get promoted.
Including case studies with Fortune 500 firms and surprising data from The Great Place to Work Institute® and other sources, THE LEVITY EFFECT: Why it Pays to Lighten Up by New York Times bestselling author Adrian Gostick and humorist Scott Christopher shows that lightness in the workplace can achieve bottom-line results that no sceptic can afford to scoff at.
Many executives think fun just won’t happen if they aren’t funny, but levity isn’t about telling jokes or creating a circus. Gostick and Christopher recognise that “great leaders are often humour appreciators rather than humour initiators, receivers rather than givers.” They urge moderation, encourage creativity, and warn against phoniness at all costs. All they ask is that you unfurrow your brow and allow levity to happen. “The willingness to laugh and find humour even in the most difficult situations is leading with levity.”
Interviews with CEOs, HR managers, and others reveal the creative levity strategies used by such companies as Google, Nike, Intuit, Boeing, Microsoft, Principal Financial Group, and Enterprise-Rent-a-Car. Just as these companies have done, the reader will learn how to:
- Screen out the overly serious and recruit levity-minded employees
- Incorporate levity in emails, voicemails, meetings, training, memos and speeches
- Stimulate organic fun that is not forced, phony or overdone
- Apply levity to the right occasions (achievements) and avoid it for the wrong ones
- Launch a Facebook-style social media site and other “fun 2.0” intranet features
- Overcome objections to levity from the “jaw-clencher,” who is riveted by the dead seriousness of their mission, or the “brow-knitter,” who is a tolerant sceptic
“When humour is valued in the workplace, it acts as a sanctioned pressure release valve to be human and let your hair down,” write the authors. It’s the best source of camaraderie.
Download a sample chapter here
About the authors
Adrian Gostick (Salt Lake City, UT) is the author of several very successful books including the New York Times best-sellers The Invisible Employee and The Carrot Principle. He also wrote the Wall Street Journal and Business Week bestseller A Carrot a Day, The Integrity Advantage and The 24-Carrot Manager, which has been called a “must read for modern-day managers” by Larry King of CNN. Adrian’s books have been translated into 15 languages and are sold in more than 50 countries around the world. He has appeared on network television programs and has been quoted in dozens of business publications and magazines including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Fortune. Adrian earned a master’s degree in Strategic Communication and Leadership from Seton Hall University, where he is a guest lecturer on organizational culture.
Scott Christopher (Salt Lake City, UT) is an author, lecturer, and a self-described corporate outsider—having worked many years in the make-believe world of television and film. Upon rejoining the workaday world, Scott discovered a yawning divide between people who want success and those who actually achieve things. He discovered the chasm can be bridged with levity. A Harvard MBA and a Ph.D. from Princeton are two important-sounding degrees, but Scott got his bachelor’s from Brigham Young University. Scott’s enthusiasm, energy, and engaging wit make for unforgettable speeches and seminars that touch hearts and split sides. A regular humor columnist for Human Capital magazine and contributing author of the best-selling book A Carrot A Day, Scott also writes screenplays and acts in film and television.
Watch clips of the authors discussing the book in US interviews at YouTube
ISBN 978-0-470-19588-8; Hardback; £12.99 / €16.10
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