So I hired a content creator. The following article was actually not written by me, Ethan Blumenthal, Founder of Knuckleball Comedy. But rather it is the first of what I hope are many blogs written by my newest hire, Linda.
Linda comes to Knuckleball Comedy ready for a small career change. She was an easy and obvious hire as you’ll see if you keep up with her content on here.
You’ll still see some occasional blogs from me moving forward, but the majority of posts will come from Linda.
I’ll let her take it from here.
(Participants from CNH Industrial laugh during a fun Knuckleball ComedyTeam Building Event)
I’m a lawyer, or rather I was a practicing lawyer for many decades. Not only that - I was a litigator - the closest thing to war without actual deadly weapons. As of today, I’m a blogger, working with Knuckleball Comedy, a truly different sort of enterprise than a law firm or insurance company, my former comfort zones.
Team building? Professional development? Leadership workshops? Laughter? To say I’m excited to exit the world of war and enter the world of fun is an understatement.
Law firms and other corporations are hierarchies, meaning that people are ranked above and below each other based on status or authority. In such a system, it’s easy sometimes to look past humanity and just consider where someone sits in the hierarchy.
But companies are most successful when their employees work together as teams with less regard to their status, and more regard for their ideas and contributions to the success of the company. So how can they make that happen?
I recently read a funny essay about corporate holiday parties. The line that got me was about how awkward it can be for people who only see each other in their official roles to suddenly be faced with socializing in what is supposed to be the wonderful holiday spirit. Yikes! How can they make that comfortable - oh, sure, add a lot of alcohol - what could possibly go wrong??
But as I’m learning here at Knuckleball Comedy, there is a better way! Bring in Ethan and his team for a team building activity that’s based on laughter and fun! We’ve seen it happen.
A group of coworkers enter a room tentatively, stand around awkwardly for a few moments, and within minutes of engaging with Ethan’s program, they are relaxed, the stress of the work day clearly diminished, and they’re laughing. The CEO and the copy room clerk, the VP’s and the most junior members of their teams.
Check out the testimonials. The good feelings persist, although it’s always a smart idea to reinforce the good feelings with another team building visit from Knuckleball Comedy!