# Language, Power, and Humor By:: [[Brian Heath]] 2023-04-20 Sometimes people ask me how I can get traditionally hard to deal with business functions to work with or assist me in an activity. Often it comes down to learning their language. Each business function has its own culture and professional way of being. This results in different languages and attitudes. Knowing these languages and attitudes allows you to communicate in their language. Essentially, it gives you "street cred" and humans are programmed to trust people who imitate their tribal customs. Other times it's about not being an asshole and wielding your positional power. As much as modern organizations reward assholes and power-hungry behavior, it does little to make any significant progress. Rarely does whipping improve morale. People may row harder for a short time, but they quickly learn the game and go intentionally slow as a subtle form of rebellion. Being a decent human works most of the time. Finally, sometimes it comes down to not taking yourself too seriously. Organizational issues are rarely life and death. There are so many other things in life that are more important than a report or fixing a minor error. Make a few jokes about the absurdity of it all. Given the vast amount of human suffering at work, humor is far too rare. Genuine and meaningful laughter is often the best medicine. What is genuine and meaningful laughter? It's laughter that emerges after a painfully true observation is made about the plight of the human condition. It isn't the bullshit laughter that happens during any company-wide meeting or inauthentic water cooler conversations. #### Related Items [[Organizational Analytics]] [[Culture]] [[The Human Condition]] [[Humor]] [[Work]] [[Management]] [[Progress]] [[Efficiency]] [[Power]] [[Language]]