Historically there has been a pervasive stereotype that women just aren't that funny. Women have been deterred from using humor, especially in business.

Listen in to learn three ways that women can use effective humor in all realms of business to increase their influence, social capital and success. 

Drink of the week…. The Green Creme de Menthe Frappe

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I have a really close friend in the industry named Tracy.

Whenever anyone talks about Tracy, they always mention how nice she is.

Some even use the word lovely to describe her.

I can just about guarantee that Lovely is not a word anyone has

ever used when describing me a word.

People do use a lot when describing me though is funny.

Welcome to episode 1 48 of The Shit Works podcast, dedicated to all

things networking, relationship building, and business development.

I'm your host, Julie Brown, speaker, author, and networking coach, and

today I am discussing how effective humor may be the key to helping female

leaders wield greater social influence.

There's a lot of different flavors of funny out there, quick

witted, sarcastic slapstick.

Deadpan.

I think I really honed my comedic chops around the art of gallow's

humor, the kind of humor that arises in stressful, dark situations.

Resorting to Gallo's humor allowed me some relief and emotional release during my

somewhat traumatic and abusive childhood growing up now, even as a full-fledged

adult, I've never thought that being funny and using humor effectively

would make me a better business person and increased my social capital.

But a recent article in Harvard Business Review is shedding

light on how being funny can pay off more so for women than men.

Historically, there's been a pervasive stereotype that women just aren't funny.

We've been deterred from using humor, and most of the famous

funny people we know are men.

The standup comedians, the late night hosts, game show hosts

mostly if not all, are men.

There is also the perception that women can either have warmth or be competent.

Here's what I mean by that.

Studies have shown that female leaders who display warmth are perceived

as less competent in their fields, and female leaders who display

competence are seen as less warm.

You just can't fucking win until now.

Enter the latest studies that suggest that the effective use of humor

offers an escape from this warmth.

Competence Catch 22.

Let me explain the three authors of the aforementioned Harvard

Business Review article I got, I hope I get their names right.

Ella Muir, inspector Julia Be and Amuna Alive, analyzed

reactions to more than 2,400.

Ted and tEDx talks in which leaders from various fields presented

to live and online audiences and based on audience ratings.

Independent evaluations and online view counts.

It was determined that female speakers who used more humor were

more popular and perceived as more influential and inspiring than both.

Less funny women, and comparatively funny men.

Now three other contributing authors to this article.

Again, I hope I am pronouncing their names right.

Lee Huang.

Melanie milliK and Eric hug.

Lou conducted a similar study but in an entrepreneurial context where

they measured the investor interest.

Judge responses and independent evaluations for more than 200

startup pitches across five different pitch competitions.

Their study found that female founder startup pitches that were

rated by an individual evaluator as less humorous were less likely to

win competitions and be perceived positively by investors and judges

than their unfunny male counterparts.

The study determined that funnier pitches were equally likely

to win regardless of gender.

So the general findings of the study is that humor can help

women come across as both warm and competent, which will ultimately

boost their influence and success.

Now you're thinking, okay, how can I incorporate humor into my next

presentation or meeting or pitch?

Well, Kathy Clots guest, a comedian marketing specialist and author of

Stop Boring Me, how to Create Kick Ass Marketing content, products and Ideas

Through the Power of Improv has provided women tips, has provided some tips

for women on how to incorporate humor effectively, how to inspire other people

with their words and their stories.

So here are three tips from her.

One own it.

Kathy wants women to step up and own it.

She says Humor is an asset and an important indicator

of emotional intelligence.

Of course, humor needs context and timing, and if that's off

well, it doesn't work so well.

So think about how and when you're going to use humor Two.

Be yourself.

Women should use their natural humor rather than adopting a style that

isn't consistent with their voice.

She says women are hilarious and they are relationship oriented and far

less likely to use put down humor.

So be yourself with your humor, and three very importantly,

avoid self-deprecating humor.

Women are more likely to use self-deprecating humor, and Kathy would

advise women to not use it as their go-to.

It's too easily misconstrued as lack of confidence when

that's not the case at all.

If you're listening, if you're listening to this episode and you're

like, fucking great, now I need to be good at my job, have warmth, be

confident, and be a fucking comedian in order to he get ahead, I give up.

That's not what I'm saying.

What I wanna get across is that if humor is a part, Of your personality.

If you are comfortable incorporating humor into your business, you 100% should be.

It's a good thing.

It's a useful tool.

So if you have it, stop stifling it because you don't think it's professional

or doesn't have a place in the office.

That's all I'm saying.

Okay.

Now onto the drink of the week, which follow me here, which

is the green creme dement Fra.

You're like, how does this go with the topic of funny women?

Well, it was drunk by Barbara Streisand portraying Fanny Bryce

in the 1964 Broadway musical.

Funny girl, Fanny Bryce was an American comedian.

Creator and Star of a top rated radio comedy series, the Baby Snooks Show,

which first aired in September of 1944.

Funny girl, that Broadway musical I mentioned is loosely based

on the life of Fanny Bryce.

So the green creme dein fra.

Here's what you're gonna need.

Super f, super fucking easy.

Two ounces of green creme dement.

And then shaved or heavily crushed ice.

That's it.

You're gonna fill a flute or California cocktail glass with shaved ice.

You can, they say you can make shaved ice by either freezing a block and

then shaving it with a grater, which sounds like an awful lot of work.

Or you can get one of those ice bags, which I have like I ice bag with a mallet

and you just smash the shit out of a bunch of ice cubes in, in that ice bag.

Um, And then what you're gonna do is you're gonna smash mash, mash,

mash, and then you're gonna fill that cup with that smashed ice, and then

drizzle the cream dement over the ice.

And it says, serve with a straw.

Because yeah, it's hard to drink like a wrap with just

ice with like without a straw.

Okay.

All right, friends, that's all for this week.

I hope you liked this podcast.

I really, really enjoyed writing this one.

If you like what you heard today, please leave a review

and subscribe to the podcast.

Also, please remember to share the podcast to help it reach a larger audience.

If you want more, Julie Brown, you can find my book.

This shit works on Amazon or Barnes and Noble, and you can find me

on LinkedIn at Julie Brown bd.

Just let me know where you found me when you reach out.

I am Julie Brown, underscore BD on Instagram where you can just pop on

over to my website, Julie Brown bd.com.

You should totally do that.

You should pop on over to Julie Brown bd.com.

Scroll down to the bottom and put in your name and your email address so

that you can get on my newsletter.

But the newsletter is super, super fun.

Okay, guys, until next week's, thanks a lot.