TED Talkin’: Tom Fishburne and the power of humor at work

Tom Fishburne didn’t go to Harvard Business school to become a comic. But his ability to transform his life experiences into relatable illustrated comics was something that both helped him through college and later his marketing career. 

In his 2018 TED Talk, Tom shares his experiences and highlights the power of laughing at ourselves—especially at work. Importantly, he says that comedy and humor have the power to “disarm” us and make it easier to talk about hard things. 

Tom left his marketing job over ten years ago to create Marketoonist, a cartoon studio helping businesses with their communications through humor. Turns out, there’s a lot for the marketing world to learn and leverage through humor in our communication and storytelling.

What’s in the Spice Cabinet?

Watch Tom’s TED Talk, “The Power of Laughing at Ourselves at Work”

• Here! 

Subscribe to Tom’s newsletter:

• Marketoonist!

Want to dig in more about how humor helps us at work?

• Read Humor, Seriously by Jennifer Aaker & Naomi Bagdonas
• We also podcasted about it in Episode #34

What do we think Tom’s walkout song is?

• Roses are Free by Ween (Mikey’s pick)