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  • July–August 2020
  • Article

Sarcasm, Self-Deprecation, and Inside Jokes: A User's Guide to Humor at Work

By: Brad Bitterly and Alison Wood Brooks
Humor is widely considered essential in personal relationships, but in leaders, it’s seen as an ancillary behavior. Though some leaders use humor instinctively, many more could wield it purposefully. Humor helps build interpersonal trust and high-­quality work... View Details
Keywords: Managing People; Humor; Leadership; Relationships
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  • March 2017
  • Article

Risky Business: When Humor Increases and Decreases Status

By: T. B. Bitterly, A.W. Brooks and M. E. Schweitzer
Across eight experiments, we demonstrate that humor can influence status, but attempting to use humor is risky. The successful use of humor can increase status in both new and existing relationships, but unsuccessful humor attempts (e.g., inappropriate jokes) can harm... View Details
Keywords: Status and Position; Behavior; Groups and Teams; Perception
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  • 2025
  • Article

Humor as a Window into Generative AI Bias

By: Roger Samure, Julian De Freitas and Stefano Puntoni
A preregistered audit of 600 images by generative AI across 150 different prompts explores the link between humor and discrimination in consumer-facing AI solutions. When ChatGPT updates images to make them “funnier”, the prevalence of stereotyped groups changes. While... View Details
Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Demographics; Prejudice and Bias
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  • 2014
  • Working Paper

Risky Business: Humor Can Increase Perceptions of Status, but Only If the Jokes Are Funny

By: B.T. Bitterly, A.W. Brooks and M.E. Schweitzer
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  • August 12, 2021
  • Article

How to Build a Life: The Link Between Happiness and a Sense of Humor

By: Arthur C. Brooks
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  • Article

Research: Cracking a Joke at Work Can Make You Seem More Competent

By: Alison Wood Brooks
Keywords: Humor; Judgment
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  • 06 Sep 2016
  • First Look

September 6, 2016

between portfolio choice and return realizations. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51573 In Press Journal of Personality and Social Psychology Risky Business: When Humor Increases and Decreases Status By:... View Details
Keywords: Carmen Nobel
  • 2011
  • Working Paper

Temptation at Work

By: Alessandro Bucciol, Daniel Houser and Marco Piovesan
To encourage worker productivity, offices prohibit Internet use. Consequently, many employees delay Internet activity to the end of the workday. Recent work in social psychology, however, suggests that using willpower to delay gratification can negatively impact... View Details
Keywords: Employees; Performance Productivity; Behavior; Power and Influence; Internet
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  • 2011
  • Book

Getting to Giving: Fundraising the Entrepreneurial Way

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Shirley M. Spence
Getting to Giving is based on Stevenson's many years as a donor, fundraiser and entrepreneur. The book offers practical techniques and real life stories, and brings passion and humor to the art and science of asking for money. Topics included in the book... View Details
Keywords: Fund Raising; Fundraising; Non-profit Management; Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving
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  • 2013
  • Article

Optimizing the Amount of Entertainment in Advertising: What's So Funny about Tracking Reactions to Humor?

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Horst Stipp
Humor and other entertaining content, as opposed to demonstrations of product features and "selling," are increasingly used in advertising, such as TV commercials, to attract and keep consumers' attention. This study uses facial tracking to explore how marketers can... View Details
Keywords: Advertising Content; Entertainment; Face Perception; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Television Entertainment; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry
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  • 17 Dec 2013
  • First Look

First Look: December 17

  Publications August 2013 Harvard Business Review Press Can China Lead? Reaching the Limits of Power and Growth By: Abrami, Regina M., William C. Kirby, and F. Warren McFarlan Abstract—At the time of the American Revolution, China was the strongest, richest, and most... View Details
Keywords: Carmen Nobel
  • 05 Mar 2009
  • What Do You Think?

How Frank or Deceptive Should Leaders Be?

around a plan to move forward and communicate his confidence in the plan ." Terri Bonar-Stewart suggested to leaders that they, "Lay out the facts, ask for employees' help (they have been waiting for you to ask), use humor (you... View Details
Keywords: by Jim Heskett
  • 13 Jul 2020
  • Research & Ideas

Merck CEO Ken Frazier Discusses a COVID Cure, Racism, and Why Leaders Need to Walk the Talk

himself better than my children can because they're growing up in a country which pretends not to be racist. And so when they're confronted with it, it hurts them more because they have no armor. And so I would ask people to recognize that even the people who say... View Details
Keywords: by Staff; Pharmaceutical
  • 19 Mar 2014
  • Research & Ideas

A Brand Manager’s Guide to Losing Control

world, brands are playthings for consumers. Humor is a big part of social media culture. And brands are often used as vehicles to carry that humor." Results can be calamitous for companies that don't anticipate mockery. Fournier and... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising
  • 20 Nov 2019
  • Research & Ideas

It's No Joke: AI Beats Humans at Making You Laugh

data-id=_/AEj4uxRw9JpybYcAgQmw][/div] The computer even beat out the joke recommendations of close friends and spouses, a comedy of human errors that surprised the research team. They figured people would have a better handle on something as subjective and personal as... View Details
Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman
  • 07 Apr 2020
  • Research & Ideas

What Customers Need to Hear from You During the COVID Crisis

Change: A Conversation with Rebecca Henderson (Environmental Insights) COVID-19 Business Impact Center (Harvard Business School) Read COVID-19 coverage from Working Knowledge Consumers also cautioned brands about using humor or brand... View Details
Keywords: by Jill Avery and Richard Edelman
  • 06 Mar 2020
  • Book

A Great Teacher's Lessons for Leading

speak truth to power. So this is my effort to do so. When I attend your class I find myself anxious and fearful. I’m afraid you will use your humor to humiliate me or make fun of me in some way. I know you are well known as a great... View Details
Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education
  • 17 Dec 2008
  • Lessons from the Classroom

‘Ted Levitt Changed My Life’

early weeks (the man does not let up!), the students come to appreciate the intensity and rapid-fire humor of their teacher. Clearly, he cares. A lot. And by the end of the semester, something transformative has happened: They are better... View Details
Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education; Retail
  • 19 Mar 2012
  • HBS Case

HBS Cases: Overcoming the Stress of ‘Englishnization’

their true selves through humor and discussions in English at the same level they were able to in French. Neeley's forthcoming Organizational Dynamics article, "The (Un)Hidden Turmoil of Language in Global Organizations,"... View Details
Keywords: by Kim Girard
  • 09 Feb 2018
  • Research & Ideas

Big Hits: The Best of the 2018 Super Bowl Ads

partisanship, and/or conscious neglect, as they presented their brands as heroic substitutes stepping in to provide services (e.g., clean water, cancer research funding) traditionally provided by nations, states, and/or NGOs. Click to watch. Still others such as Sprint... View Details
Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Telecommunications

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