When Workplace Humor Goes Wrong: Pranks, Creativity, and Mistakes episode artwork

EPISODE · Apr 1, 2021 · 34 MIN

When Workplace Humor Goes Wrong: Pranks, Creativity, and Mistakes

from My Favorite Mistake: Learning Without Blame in Business and Leadership · host Mark Graban

Business humorist and the author of the new book Laughs On Wry: An Improviser's Memoir. Show notes: https://ww.markgraban.com/mistake54 My guest for Episode #54 is Lisa David Olson a business humorist and the author of the new book Laughs On Wry: An Improviser's Memoir. She's an appropriate guest for today, given that it's the first day of National Humor Month. Later this month (April 12th), my guest will be Art Bell — creator of the Comedy Central channel (which is celebrating its 30th anniversary today). I wish I had an entire month of funny guests… but there's two for you. Lisa is a speaker, author, podcaster (“Stranger Connections“), and creative partner, who loves coffee and pranks! (the exclamation point is hers). In today's episode, Lisa shares her “favorite mistake” of not writing her book earlier because she thought nobody would read it. I think my favorite mistake from the conversation was Lisa talking about a prank at her workplace, a police station, that I'm afraid could get her killed if she repeats it. We talk about those mistakes and topics including: Why are you afraid of scaring the introverts? Humor as her escape from a traumatic childhood Helping businesses (and individuals) reignite their ideas… and their projects — how? Humor as a connector The risk of making mistakes when trying to use humor at work? What are you doing for fun? Humor as a gift vs something that can be developed? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/favorite-mistake/support

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Apr 1, 2021

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In this episode of My Favorite Mistake, business humorist Lisa David Olson shares stories about humor at work—including a prank on a police officer that ended with a fractured tailbone. Lisa also reflects on her biggest creative mistake: not writing her memoir Laughs on Wry sooner because fear and self-doubt held her back for years. The conversation explores humor as a connector, the risks of workplace pranks, creativity under pressure, and how leaders can use humor thoughtfully without letting it backfire.

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When Workplace Humor Goes Wrong: Pranks, Creativity, and Mistakes

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This episode was published on April 1, 2021.

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