Humour Works – by Pat Armitstead – Book Review
On the cover of this book it says: “Pat commits the cardinal management sin of spreading joy and making people smile …”. Immediately after reading it, I found myself feeling cheeky and cheerful and naturally wanting to connect with people more deeply via gentle humour and I realised it’s true. In business, we’re expected to keep things focused and quite emotionless, and those of us who relax a little and play the informal, or perhaps even heartfelt card are really going out on a limb. That’s what ‘Joyologist’ Pat Armitstead does in her work life, she reaches out with an open heart to touch even the most unhappy characters, with impressive results. Pat has been awarded the NZ Speaker of the Year Award, her bio says she’d chalked up 15,000 hours of keynotes, workshops, seminars and lectures reaching an astounding 55,000 people throughout Australasia. What she’s been doing is really quite brave. You’d have to be both optimistic and courageous to champion the Humour In Workplace cause (she even successfully initiated the annaul Humour in Business Awards). You’d have to be the kind of person who could hold their own, consistently, whether you’re working with a friendly mailable bunch, or a roomful of worn-out cynics, and this is what Pat’s been doing. ‘Humour Works’ is a collection of articles that she wrote for Business to Business newpaper over a period of three years. She drew her material from years spent within the coorporate sector. We’re talking chapters with titles such as ‘Homo-sapians not homo-economics’, ‘I am a possibilist’ and ‘Some pursue happiness, others create it’. If you’ve been determinedly holding onto the belief that it’s important to bring the heart back into business and politics, and to value the power of the human emotions, rather than disregard them, this book will fuel you on (you optimist you)!
You can purchase a copy of Pat’s book here.
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