Humor Could Change Your Company

Posted by CSW Corp on Oct 3, 2011 in Blog, Featured, Portfolio | 0 comments

We are currently experiencing a less than humorous economy. But even in the toughest of times a touch of humor can often lighten the subject or even make someone’s day. In my years of consulting, I’ve heard thousands of speakers. The ones that always created a true learning environment were the ones that added just the right amount of humor to their presentation.

A presentation may be to 5 people or 5,000 people. It’s still a presentation and an opportunity to provide important information to the audience.

Years ago I stood offstage listening to a praising introduction of me and what 500 Detroit business people were going to take away with them that day. Of course, those 500 in the audience were wondering ‘why am I here’ and ‘what can a girl from Texas teach us?’ I knew they were a hard audience on a good day.

As the music built, I started my enthusiastic walk onto the stage. Smiling my biggest smile while making eye contact with several in the audience as I approached center stage, and wearing my best business suit.

AND FELL FLAT ON MY FACE!

I considered crawling back off stage or playing dead but quickly decided to make the best of it. I jumped up, threw both hands over my head and shouted “TEN!” To paraphrase Renee Zellweger in Jerry Maguire, “I had them from hello.”

I grabbed their undivided attention and they were not about to nod off. What could I possibly have in mind for my next act? Was I embarrassed? Yes, of course. But, as a presenter you, “never let them see you sweat.”

After my presentation a man was waiting at the rear of the room. He politely inquired if he could speak with me for a few minutes. He started off sharing that he did not want to be there that day. Said he got up angry that he had to be there. His business wasn’t going well but felt like he needed to be there. He said when I fell and jumped back up, made light of it and moved on, he realized his biggest problem in his business was the need to change his attitude.

He needed to focus on all the things that were going well and the things he was doing right. All his worries about the few bad areas were paralyzing him. He said from then on he was going to look each day for 1 or 2 improvement opportunities with the determination, “I can overcome this. It is not the end of the world. It can be fixed.” He said at first he felt bad for laughing so hard when I fell and then realized how much better he already felt just from laughing.

In my mind, that was a good day.

When I talk to a group about Change Management I begin by telling them, I know they like things the way they are and they are not interested in anything I might tell them about change. I tell them I understand how they feel. The only people I know that actually like change are wet babies. If they will hang with me I will help them discover areas of their business that will make their lives easier and their profits higher with just a few small tweaks. And, if I fail to convenience them that there are a few ‘wet babies’ in their own business in need of change, I have a box of pull-up Pampers at the end of the meeting.

Now, I have them looking at change as a natural and required task at every company—large, medium or small.

Cindy Williams – CSW Corp.

Prior to joining CSW Corp, Cindy spent fourteen years as a top retail development
specialist for Chrysler. She coined the slogan, “We’re Better, We’ll Prove It” for
Chrysler’s national Five Star program and certified the first Chrysler Five Star dealer.
She is a proponent for increasing long term profitability through improving customer loyalty.