Is a Sense of Humor Vital to Business Success in the 21st Century ?

Is having a sense of humor vital to business success in the 21st Century?

Some recent events in the orthopaedic industry have made me give thought to the idea of whether a business can or should have a sense of humor. We usually appreciate a good sense of humor in our friends and in those we interact with, but should we expect that or desire it from companies we do business with? Can a corporation establish a culture that imbues it with a sense of fun or lightheartedness that makes it attractive to its potential customers? We want those we transact business with to be serious about what they do, but can it be taken too far? If this is taken to extremes, and a company creates a perception of being uptight or stodgy, do they risk losing business?

My answer to all of these questions is “Yes”.

A Tale of Two Meetings

Recently the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons (AAHKS) held their annual meeting in Dallas. The academic presentations were stellar, the exhibit hall was bustling, and one of the unquestionable hits from the meeting came from a relatively small company selling surgical navigation products for knee and hip surgery. In a stroke of marketing genius and ad placement, Company A produced a series of signs touting “Accuracy Matters”, “Don’t Miss” and other slogans related to their products and placed them … you guessed it - above the urinals and in other spots throughout the restrooms of the Hilton Anatole. Now, normally taking out your cellphone camera in a Texas men’s room is a prelude to a serious beatdown, but at this meeting it happened quite a few times with no reported incidents. The signs were an unabashed hit. They were quoted, tweeted, and Company A seemed like the cool kid you would want to hang out with. Even if individual surgeons didn’t have an interest in their products, their sales forces had been gifted a wonderful ice breaker. This is a company with a great sense of humor.

At another meeting, two weeks earlier and forty miles away, a different scenario transpired. At the Orthopaedic Trauma Association’s?annual meeting, there was also a bustling exhibit hall. At one booth, Company B set up a larger than life display of their Trochanteric Nail system for hip fracture repair. The only problem was that the hip screw portion of the implant was facing in the complete wrong direction in a very noticeably non-anatomic manner. Just like in Dallas, pictures were taken, laughs were had, and posts were made on social media.

An innocent mistake had been made. There was clearly an opportunity here for a company with a sense of humor to turn a negative into a positive. In an era where a fast food chain has grown double digit sales growth with a snarky Twitter feed (Yeah. We see you Wendy’s!), it seems like it would be a really good idea to appear funny and relatable.

Some possible posts about the errant screw:

• “Sadly our new intern Rob had a very short-lived career in medical device sales.”
• “Sales of our new Reverse Hip Screw have been much lower than expected.”
• “The guys at Company X have really taken this prank war too far.”

Alas and sadly, none of these great options were taken. By the time of the AAHKS meeting two weeks later, rumors were widely circulating on the convention floor that instead of laughing off the event that Company B had chosen instead to try to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Reportedly the aforementioned company had reached out via the OTA to pressure surgeons and others involved to remove their social media posts with the offending picture.

Now I am far from being a tech guru, but I am relatively certain that once something like this reaches the internet it exists digitally FOREVER. However, instead of dealing themselves in on a good laugh and an opportunity for exposure, the corporate brain trust made a futile attempt to unscrew the situation (pun very intended). Not only was this unsuccessful, but the attempted coverup likely left many potential customers with a negative impression of how it was handled. Those who were exposed to the hubris of Company B attempting to strong-arm a professional organization and their potential customers (surgeons) probably felt the opposite of how they would feel after seeing a funny ad in the restroom.

So, do corporations HAVE to possess a sense of humor? Maybe not, but in 2021 it might be a huge asset. The world has changed. We are all visible most all of the time. We make mistakes, we learn new things, we change our minds, and those events are now recorded and documented for perpetuity. There is nowhere to hide. It might be that we need to extend some grace to ourselves and those around us. It might be that we need to learn to not take ourselves so seriously and to laugh a little more. Those people and companies who learn that authenticity and pure intent trump perfectionism will likely put themselves in a better position to talk about what they do and to prosper from those discussions.