#30 Michael Kerr – Humor and Collaboration

Time to have some fun. Michael Kerr is my guest for a great conversation on the connections between humor in the workplace and collaboration. Michael is a researcher, writer, and Canadian Hall of Fame Speaker on inspiring workplace cultures and businesses that leverage their humor resources to drive outrageous results. His ideas on building better workplace cultures have been featured in hundreds of publications worldwide, his Inspiring Workplaces blog is internationally recognized and he’s authored 8 books, including, “The Jerk-Free Workplace,” “The Humor Advantage,” and “Hire, Inspire, and Fuel Their Fire.”

In our conversation, we connect the ideas of humor, culture, and the ability to collaborate as well as shed some light on the many benefits to incorporating humor into our workplaces and our collaborative endeavors. Please enjoy our conversation.

Some links to some of the things we discuss during this episode: 

• Michael Kerr and Humor at Work
• Zappos – Core Values
• Book: A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by James Comey
• Book: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande
• Book: The Humor Advantage by Michael Kerr
• Book: You Can’t Be Serious: Putting Humor to Work by Michael Kerr
• Book: Why is Everyone Smiling? By Paul Spiegelman

Your host for the Cool Collaborations podcast is Scott Millar. Scott is the principle of Collaboration Dynamics, where he often works as a "peacemaker" by gathering people with different experiences and values and helping them navigate beyond their differences to tackle complex problems together.