The value of humor at work and in your posts. Plus: What's trending the week of August 1 and who to follow now

Jeff Weiner, the former CEO of LinkedIn, once defined the people he likes to work with as sitting at the intersection of 3 circles : “Dream Big” “Get Shit Done” and “Know How to Have Fun.”

The first two instantly make sense: You need both to create businesses that last and that attract the kind of talent that is required to get there. The last one, though, was a twist: “I've reached a point in my career where I want to be surrounded by people who not only share a vision, but a genuine commitment to upholding their company's culture and values,” Jeff Weiner wrote. “They are team players, don't take themselves too seriously, and ‘know how to have fun.’”

Jeff was talking about who he wants to see around the office, but I also think his Venn diagram translates to who you want to see in your feed. As a creator, your followers want you to explain where the world is going (dream big) and how you do your job (“get shit done”). But they also want to see your personality — that you can have fun while doing both. Work doesn’t have to be homework.

I’m far from the only one who thinks this. One of the most in-demand features has long been a way to for people to show that a post brought a smile to their face. And so recently we added a new reaction that now sits among the like, celebrate, support, love, insightful and curious emojis. It looks like this. It’s that blue happy face in the middle.

So everyone wants to smile, but humor is particularly tricky in the workplace. One person’s fun is another person’s annoyance. Posters may be concerned about what their clients or employer might think. Maybe you can get away with funny, but what's too funny? And you certainly can’t be crude, or angry, or dismissive.?

It can be a challenge to walk that line between what's appropriate and what isn’t (as if being funny isn’t challenging enough) but some professionals seem to have a knack for knowing how far they can go while still demonstrating their knowledge, expertise and integrity. I wanted to know how they find the boundaries of what is okay and what’s not. So I talked to author and comedian Kathy Klotz-Guest MA, MBA

Kathy is an ex-tech leader, a trained improviser, comedian and performer who works with leaders, teams, and brands teaching humor and laughter for lifting people up in business. Her goal is to strip away the fear associated with humor to help people embrace it, particularly for women. She said, “Some of the leaders I work with are women who bring me into work with them and their teams (hello Amazon!). I teach them not just to use humor as an external thing, but also [about] accepting their own truths and imperfection. Leaders need to understand that humor is also empathy....It's bigger than jokes. It's playfulness, and saying, ‘Hey, I am imperfect and we all are. I see your challenges, employees and customers, and laugh about that truth, so we can work on it together!'"

Humor is part of being human and as she writes here , it’s our superpower that offers advantages when used well.

She said, “We think being serious all the time gives us gravitas. Nope. It makes us unapproachable, boring, and that's usually not who we are. We're trying to keep up this 'professional' facade. The reality is we never connect with people who take themselves too seriously. You can take what you do seriously and not take yourself so seriously. We've been lied to that anything less than serious is less than professional. Not true. Laughter is human and we connect with that. We have a lot of programming and socialization to unpack. In fact, I say this: Be the person who bucks the trend for your industry. Be the humorous auditor, lawyer, accountant, pharmacist, small business owner, stylist, whatever, all the way to executive, and I know this: You will stand out and connect.”

OK, but with all of the pitfalls around humor, how do you pull it off in a work setting? The answer clearly isn't cheap memes or viral videos. Those just show you live your life too online.

Kathy said you have to be you: "Be playful. Show up real and imperfect. What's something about you that's funny and people would love to know. Humor is bigger than jokes as I've mentioned. In fact, that's a small part of humor. Show up. Have fun. Be real. Laugh at yourself and own who you are. Your content will connect when it's real and imperfect. Share a piece of who you are.. Have fun, embrace truth, let go and be imperfect. We can't be credible until we are relatable. That's what humor does.”

Kathy points out that we can't be credible until we are relatable but she also knows that there are boundaries of what is okay to joke about and what’s not. It’s something she writes about often in her newsletter Humor is Human AF . She shared these simple rules for knowing the difference:

1. Find universal experiences: "Parenting, pandemic, hybrid work, life during Covid, fist bump, elbow bump or nothing - what's the protocol? I missed an elbow bump recently and it became an elbow-boob content situation: I got el-boobed! That's what I wrote about it and people related. There are so many ways to laugh at our common humanity. The point is: call out the awkwardness of human situations. You are looking for common big universal truths."?

2. Start with your truth —?your situation: "What is true for you? Don't speak for others. I talk about being a woman in tech for 15 years. All through my lens. People laugh because they connect with truth. Own your truth, humanity and awkwardness. You can own YOUR story."

3. Don't make fun of people. It's that simple: "If you know someone, sure. On your own time. Stay off of LinkedIn doing generalizations.? I can't emphasize this enough: don't make others the topic of your humor. People don't always have the same resources, visibility and power and that means people can think you're punching down (aiming jokes at marginalized groups).? Don't. When it doubt, don't. The litmus test for me is this: does my humor come at the expense of someone's humanity? If it does, don't do it. Finding the humanity and imperfection in universal challenges and your own stories is the place to start."

Kathy sees humor and laughter as the shortest distance between people with the ability to lower people’s differences, and get them to listen and connect. She told me: “Mostly, I want people on LinkedIn to see that humor is human and you can be a nerd, an ex-tech leader and still embrace your humanity and humor. Humor is the most human thing we got for connection. Embrace that imperfection and we connect!”

?? ?#NewMonthNewGoals : With a new month starting, members are using this hashtag to share their new goals, plans, and intentions for August.?

?? Netflix accuses duo of stealing the Bridgerton-themed show The debate is on over the controversial lawsuit filed by Netflix, alleging that two musical theater content creators are infringing on the copyright for their hit show, Bridgerton.

?? Employers work to woo Gen Z By adapting requirements and work environments, employers are trying attract and keep Gen Z workers to meet the challenge of the ongoing labor shortage.

?? Expected to trend: August is Black Business Month. To join the conversation and discover, support, celebrate, and share a new Black owned business use the hashtag #BlackBusinessMonth .?

Each week, I’ll highlight creators who are initiating meaningful conversations on LinkedIn. These members use a variety of tools — from live video to polls — to nurture their audience. See if any of their actions work for you or engage with them directly by leaving a comment and sharing your insights.

1. In this video , Varun Mayya , CEO at Avalon Scenes uses both Hindi and English to review Marvel’s epic journey from bankruptcy to becoming a billion-dollar business producing blockbuster films.??

2. ?Graphic artist Samy Halim shares different versions of this drawing of Giselle, a representation of working women in the 60′s.

?3. From International Beer Day to Neil Gaiman's Sandman on Netflix, if you need to know what’s trending on social media, co-founder at Forekast, Justin Kerby ’s got you covered with The Weekly Forecast newsletter.

4. Pilot and aviation expert Erika Armstrong shows her following to aviation enthusiasts this visual of the many variations of a Boeing 777.

5. Founder and President of Pacific Capital Chad Willardson offers these tips for increased energy and a reminder that health and energy is key to being at your best.