You've tried the seminars. You've tried the pizza lunches. Someone once suggested a drum circle. Here's what the research actually says about the one tool most workplaces are afraid to use.
It's tempting to file this under "HR problem," but it shows up in every corner of the building. Sales reps who can't build rapport in the first thirty seconds. Meetings where the risky-but-brilliant idea dies unspoken. All-hands presentations forgotten by the elevator. Leaders who read as competent but never quite human. Different departments, same root cause — a room too tense to connect. So here's the real question: who's taking care of the room?
Because the research is blunt — stressed brains don't listen, don't learn, and don't stay. And laughter is the fastest legal way to un-stress a brain.
The whole argument in fourteen minutes: Judy's TEDx talk.
The Humour Cliff is real — and your team fell off it
Stanford's Jennifer Aaker and Naomi Bagdonas asked people around the world one simple question: "Did you smile or laugh a lot yesterday?" A four-year-old laughs about 400 times a day. The average 40-year-old needs two and a half months to laugh that much. We fall off the "Humour Cliff" the day we get a lanyard — and our engagement, creativity and trust go over the edge with it.
That's not a slogan — it's neurochemistry. Shared laughter lowers cortisol (the stress hormone) and releases endorphins and dopamine, the same bonding cocktail behind trust and connection. It's why the room that laughs in minute two is the room still taking notes in minute forty.
of workers believe a sense of humour is important for career advancement.
Robert Half survey, via Newsweekof CEOs would choose a job candidate with a sense of humour over one without.
Hodge Cronin & Associates, survey of 700+ CEOsof executives believe employees with a sense of humour do a better job.
Robert Half survey, via Newsweekmore motivating: how teams rate leaders who use humour.
Aaker & Bagdonas, Stanford GSBdaily laughs, age four vs. age forty. The Humour Cliff in one number.
Stanford GSB global studyLaughter measurably reduces stress hormones and boosts the ones that build trust and recall.
Greater Good Science Center, Berkeley
Why this matters for your training spend
Be honest: how much of last year's leadership program can your team quote today? People don't retain what bored them. Employees remember information better when it arrives with humour — which is why Judy's sessions are built as comedy first, curriculum smuggled inside. Your people think they're getting a break from training. They're actually getting the only training they'll still be using at Q3.
"But we're a serious industry"
A: Humour-friendly workplaces report higher engagement, lower turnover and better productivity. Disengaged, burned-out ones pay for it in sick days, exits and quiet quitting. Fun is the delivery mechanism; retention is the product.
A: This is exactly what Judy teaches. Strategic humour is situational and inclusive — never punching down, never office stand-up. Second City craft, boardroom judgment. (She's played hospitals, law firms and government. Nobody filed a complaint; several filed booking requests.)
A: Leaders who use humour well are rated more competent, more approachable and more trustworthy — and 91% of executives believe a sense of humour matters for advancement. The irony writes itself.
Sources (yes, a comedian brought receipts)
- "Laughing at the Workplace Is Serious Business" — Newsweek
- "Humor Is Serious Business" — Stanford Graduate School of Business
- Aaker, J. & Bagdonas, N., Humor, Seriously: Why Humor Is a Secret Weapon in Business and Life — Stanford Graduate School of Business
- "Humor in Workplace Leadership: A Systematic Search Scoping Review" — PMC / NIH
- "Is a Sense of Humor in the Workplace Good for Your Career?" — Robert Half
- "How a Little Humor Can Improve Your Work Life" — Greater Good Science Center, UC Berkeley
- "Humour as a Senior Leadership Skill" — The Economic Times
Ready to see the science do stand-up?
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