****Please forgive any and all transcription errors as this was transcribed by Otter.ai.****

Tim Gard 0:00

Hi everybody. I'm Tim guard and you're listening to A Shark's Perspective.

(Music - shark theme)

Kenneth Kinney 0:20

Welcome back and thank you for joining A Shark's Perspective. I'm Kenneth Kinney, but friends call me Shark. I am a keynote speaker, a strategist, a shark diver, host of this show, and your Chief Shark Officer.

Kenneth Kinney 0:33

Work is supposed to be serious, right? I mean, after all, your boss and their bosses want you to be super serious and getting the work done. But maybe that's another reason that morale at companies is so low. Of course, the goal is to get the job done and sure, you likely will have a few laughs with your team around you, but is humor truly part of the culture of the company that helps alleviate a lot of the pressure and helps all of the team look at work through a different perspective? After all, I've been there I've worked with bosses, who who thought they were the titans of industry and yet afflicted by an illness and born without the ability to laugh. So sad. Are they forgetting that sometimes a laugh can help a team achieve more? So the question is, how can humor have a positive impact at work?

Kenneth Kinney 1:16

Tim Gard is a certified speaking professional and a member of the speaker Hall of Fame who teaches people to be more resilient and resourceful, and coaches businesses on how to enhance productivity and employee enthusiasm.

Kenneth Kinney 1:28

And on this episode, we will discuss federal government fraud investigative work to Hall of Fame speaker work being funny in an emcee role versus as a keynote speaker, nose whistles and flutes, how to use humor to shift perspectives, humor at home versus humor at work, comedy triggers, humor as a problem solver, chicken feet sticking out of a roller bag, how leaders can develop a positive humor plan, phrases for compliance, Britney Spears, using humor internationally, measuring humor success after the event, Leslie Nielsen movies, Seinfeld and Chappelle, and a lot lot more.

Kenneth Kinney 2:00

So let's tune into a Hall of Fame humorous speaker with a Shark who loves to laugh on this episode of A Shark's Perspective.

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Kenneth Kinney 2:11

Tim, welcome to A Shark's Perspective. First of all, you're the only man or woman who's ever given me a free nose whistle. So obviously, I had to get you on the show. But tell us a little bit, if you will about your you and your background and how you got into the funny speaking and speaking funny world.

Tim Gard 2:29

Sure, I been doing this now a little over 25 years, I used to be with the federal government was with state Montana Human Services. And I was a fraud investigator for the state and found that people were burning out all around me. And I mean, it's fairly dangerous work. And I just kept going. And when the federal government hired me, I was with them long enough. That's a Federal Food Stamp Program, I got to be known as the funny fed, which is kind of an oxymoron, I guess. And my agency would loan me to other agencies to represent or show the flag as they call it. And I was able to laugh about the bizarre things about the program's wit not diminish any of the recipients of the programs. And finally, people started offering me money. And I really couldn't, I was just beyond my understanding about that. And I finally reached a point where I had to either resign from the government because every time in the job I was at, if I got paid from outside agencies, I had to report it to the agency. So I wasn't, you know, I wasn't compromising anything. And so anyway, it reached the point where I thought I either have to resign and do this full time or let that go and get into working for the government full time. So in one year, I resigned I quit my job, I got divorced, I sold my house, I sold my truck, I think I did every stressful thing a human can do in one month, and I did 10 events the first year 30 The next year, and I've maintained you know, anywhere from 40 to 100 events a year since then. The business has been good to me. And I primarily talk about the use of humor as a skill in anybody's business. However, whatever they're doing, I use a lot of storytelling, very funny stories and a lot of visuals, unusual visuals. And it just really caught on. I mean, it's not about telling jokes, it's it's really finding ways that you can laugh at the situation all around you. And I think it really clicked when I found it's not enough for me to be funny. It's that I can show other people how they can be funny too.

Kenneth Kinney 4:31

Yeah, well, you went from fraud to food stamps to a little bit of a country music song there your life. Now to a Hall of Fame Speaker I first saw you had the pleasure of seeing you speak as an emcee. And I'm curious if you think it's easier to inject humor as an MC or as a keynote speaker.

Tim Gard 4:51

Well, the MC job is hard mostly because they don't get to know you. When I do MC work. Normally what I like to do is I like to do a pro Graeme for the group first, so that they see what I you know what I do and how my humor works. And then as an emcee, they know they can trust me. You know, for years, people would say, like Toastmasters says, tell a joke at the opening. No, you know, they, they don't know you, they can't really trust you. So it takes longer to build trust. So yeah, like I say, I'd rather do, I would rather do a bit and then and then be an emcee. And but you know, there's some humor that's literally designed for that short pieces like that. And, but I prefer speaking first and then being an emcee.

Kenneth Kinney 5:36

Well, I saw you do the emcee work when there were a couple of speakers that weren't they were a little bit dry. And I had your humor. It just it'll it alleviated everything, it was masterful, but how do you use humor in your speaking to shift people's perspectives?

Tim Gard 5:55

Yeah, a lot of it is about we can't change the things that happen to us. Around us, we have to change our perception of them. And almost everybody can do that. I mean, I, I was in a cab going to the airport. First time, I've been in a cab for years. And it's we're in a traffic downtown Denver, the guy's hit his hands on the dash, and he's in traffic and angry. And I said, How long have you been doing this? 30 years, how long in Denver 30 years. You know, I hate to tell you this, it's gonna happen again, tomorrow, it's going to happen every other day use that person sets themselves up for anger and failure. You know, there's a lot of work out there right now, if you're that miserable, do something else, work a different shift. You know, I exist in an environment where I have no control the travel and you know, I've flown over 3 million miles and yet I thrive in that environment. Because I've learned when to put my foot down when to ask when to demand, you learn the rules, and you just don't get angry every time something goes wrong.

Kenneth Kinney 6:57

Yeah, and I want to also explain to Gen Z that a cab that he just described, that's the prehistoric version of Uber to the Gen Z crowd,

Tim Gard 7:06

you know, and it's funny. Yeah, I had not been in one in years, it was really a different experience.

Kenneth Kinney 7:11

Well, what is the difference between humor at home and humor at work? I did, you know, stand up for several years, years and years ago, but I loved this, this question and really wanted you to kind of help explain how we employ this at work.

Tim Gard 7:27

Most of the time when I'm hired is for it's either a business who's having a professional meeting after hours or even during the day. But when people are at conferences, when people are at meetings, the same rules apply as they do if they're actually work. So they could be in Las Vegas at eight o'clock at night. And it's the same rules as if they were at a nine to five job. And so what we say what we, what we do, you know, if you couldn't say it to somebody in front of the boss, or at an open meeting, you shouldn't be saying it at a conference. And a lot of people that come into the business, try to bring in the humor they've used like, like you doing stand up, I have great respect for anybody that's done stand up. It's a brutal, it's, it's, it's hard. And this boom, boom, boom, you know, is very different than corporate where, you know, if you're, if you're at a stand up event, somebody heckles you, you take, you go right for the throat, exactly corporate, I would then step back and let their boss deal with it. If I attack them, then the group would almost go against me. So So just think of it this way, when you're when you're doing something for a company and employers are required or required to be there, you have to treat it like you would at any nine to five job regardless of time of day, or where it is the humor, if it's inappropriate at work, it's inappropriate at that conference.

Kenneth Kinney 8:51

Yeah, that's a great point. Because I, when I speak, I do a fair amount of humor, but I don't do stand up. Because if I did, it's a whole different ballgame. Plus, I would have to have a cigarette and a glass of whiskey. And that's not good to have it at a corporate event anyway, it doesn't work doesn't work. But also, what do you say, when people think about humor, with things that might be too controversial, especially considering that everyone is triggered by everything these days? It's, it's hard to to hit a safe road anymore with folks?

Tim Gard 9:26

Well, I think first of all, is, you know, we have to never use humor to diminish anyone that if you keep that rule cognizant, I think people people can understand. The second thing is when we make a mistake, you know, people need to know there's there's a lot of rules out there that I don't know. I mean, the rules are changing all the time. When I was a fraud investigator, I always had to prove intent. You know, and if you're doing Absence of Malice, if you make a mistake, then you know, I would say that we apologize, I don't think we should live in fear. We're. So first of all, I'd say it's okay to laugh at yourself. You know, CW Metcalf said laugh, not with ridicule. But with acceptance of self, that's fine. You know, whenever we use humor to put somebody else down, and that's why jokes don't work a lot at work, because there's always somebody that's the butt of the joke. So the question is, if you have to ask yourself, should I say this, then the answer is probably no, you know, it, it's easier when in doubt, leave it out. That's, that's my feeling on that.

Kenneth Kinney 10:30

So how do people or I guess how do you look at people when how they consider you to be their speaker, not everyone gets it. I mean, I get I look, sometimes when I've worked in corporate life at the stress bubble that people are in, and I realize that it's not a another performance thing that's going to make them you know, to sharpen their tools that may just sometimes humorous, alleviates that that pressure bubble and can make people perform well can motivate them, obviously, all the all the things, you know, well, but how do you discuss that to help convey how humor can help a company fix the problems that they're looking for?

Tim Gard 11:13

Well, humor is, first of all really great problem solver. You know, I mean, normally, when you solve a problem, you look at the most conservative solution, and the most exorbitant, so it's most Costas in the most cost cost less, where we should be looking at the most extreme bizarre, and the most conservative and then find something in the middle. So it's problem solving, it really does help people see problems in a different light. I mean, you saw my suitcase up there with the chicken feet sticking out of it. Yeah, my roller bag has chicken feet sticking out of it. Because when you put it in the overhead, if you have to put it in sideways, people would move my bag to make more room, the chicken feet would you know, or the in any way before I put the chicken feet in, they move my bag, so it's just wheels in the bin wouldn't close, I'd have to check my bag, since I put the chicken feet in there, that doesn't happen anymore. They see the chicken feet, they just put it back and leave it alone. Problem solved. So the first thing is, you have to be able to identify what's causing the people stress, or the group that I'm speaking for what what causes them stress, and then learn what not to say, you know, you don't get up at a credit union and talk about their employees. They're the members. So it's speaking the language. And then the third thing is, it's coming up with things they really will do. If it's an office, I tell people a lot at the end of the day, do your dismount, like a gymnast, you know, let the day go leave work at work, and leave home at home. So it's coming up with those things that people really will do the nose thoughts that you mentioned, you know, you their little plastic thing you play by blowing through your nose. It's just nothing but fun. There's no nothing serious about them. And sometimes I think that's just what we need is to just not everything be so serious for a while. But but basically it's really about seeing how, what causes them stress and how I can give them input on it. I mean, I think that's the key shark.

Kenneth Kinney 13:14

Well, there's a lot of what we've talked about with how masterfully you help them with that. But what I'd kind of like to know as well. And I know you talked about this in one of your keynotes but how can leaders develop a positive humor plan to motivate their team? Not everybody. Some people might even be intimidated by it. Because not every not everybody that we talked to can deliver humor the same way?

Tim Gard 13:41

Well, I think first of all, they've got to find what things work for them. Some people are visual, some can, some can tell stories or jokes. And that's what they stick with. There are visual, and they can use visual humor. If you can't tell jokes, or a problem telling stories, I'd stick with the visual humor, you know, things that, that they can see not necessarily cartoons, but you know, you saw that don't bug me glasses and some of the things that I have there on my website. That's the things I'd start with, find what you what works for you. Number two would be start small. You know, if you're having a meeting, you know, come out and say, Hey, we've got 89 things to talk about, and then stop and say, Well, really, it's only one, you know, so what you've done is you've actually helped to take the pain away, you know, reduce the size of your meetings and say, you know, something like, I just did some work for a company where whenever they meet, they talk about everything that's wrong. And I said, start your meetings by telling people what they're doing. Right. You know, and they all traveled I say maybe have the best travel story of the of the week or the month or whatever it is. It's something funny that happened to him. But I said you know, the thing is, it doesn't always have to be so awful, you know, stressed out angry people. Meetings don't have to be boring. They can be fun and now that's where I'd start is the end of the boring meeting.

Kenneth Kinney 15:03

Agreed I work with a lot of Taipei's that are as bad as me. And it's, sometimes it's hard to get them to think that way. But one of the things I'd love to dive into is, I'd love for you to give us an example of how you use neuroscience and NLP neuro linguistic programming and humor to help teams with sort of easy to remember phrases that can also help improve Compliers

Tim Gard 15:27

sure, you know, one of the things I do is I let people know when some little things happen, you know, you just, you know, you touch your forehead with your hand and wave it off and say, bummer, you know, and I'll get the whole group to go and put their hand here and then wave it off and say, bummer. What it does is it releases when something happens, either can take it and stack it up one on top of another, or you can let them go, so that you don't stack them up. And then the other one is, whenever something good happens, you got to celebrate it, you go who you know, you. And for both of them, sometimes you just do it in your mind. I mean, if if your boss walks in your office, I don't want you to go in bummer. That's not what I mean. I'm just saying that, that neuro linguistically, our brains don't know the difference sometimes with what's real and what's not real. So if you tell yourself, I'm angry, I'm upset, I can't deal with this, your brain believes it up to a point. And the proof of that comes from, you know, if you ever go to a scary movie, you are watching that movie, you know, it's not real, that alien is really not coming out of that person's chest. And yet, you still your heart rates elevated, you're seeing it, you know, it's not real, but your brain perceives it somewhat as real. And so it's the self talk so important, you know, I can do this, everything is going to be okay. Not this is going to be a bad day, this is going to be a bad interview. So those sorts of things are ie are easy to learn. It's getting people to do it consistently. I just think that the more that we can do positive self talk, the more that we can also encourage others, you know, where you just somebody's having a bad day, and you just come up to him and say, You know what I like about you. You know, I mean, we give positive reinforcement to I think the more we concentrate to do that, then, you know, the NLP and psycholinguistics language of words. A lot of that is then the words we say, if you have an employee that's late all the time you don't go Why are you late? The word why implies guilt. If you say help me understand what's going on, you'll get a better response. Amen. So yeah, it's just it's very simple things. As Britney Spears said, it's not rocket surgery, you know?

Kenneth Kinney 17:45

Exactly, it helped me understand is one of the my favorite phrases I've used throughout my career to get anybody to, to help me with something as well. But let's talk International. I've lived in other countries, I speak a few languages I've spoken overseas. Thank goodness, I never did any standup overseas, but language can be such an issue as well as context and colloquialism as you well know. But is it complicated to speak in other countries? About the use of humor? Are the Germans gonna laugh as much as the Brits will?

Tim Gard 18:17

Well, the Germans come out, okay, Joke number one. It's more than anything. You know, I've spoken in Germany. If when I go to those countries where I have to be interpreted, I'll go out a day before and work with them, so that they people understand what I'm talking about. First of all, humor doesn't translate well between languages. So you have you have a setup line, a punch line, and a punch word. The last word is the punch word. So let's say the punch line is and then I went to the store, if you convert it to French, it would go to the store I went, it changes the order. And so the jokes don't work when they don't have when they're in wrong order. So the first is translating jokes is hard. However, a cubicle in New York is a cubicle in Australia, is a cubicle in Germany, we stick with the commonalities. And then I research what things people have said in the past that that caused problems. I was in Australia following a guy that used to play baseball, and he said, do you root for your team? He said that not knowing that's a slang word there for having sex. And so he go come on root for your team. And he said, we root you know, and, and so it's that's why a lot of people don't a lot of our peers don't like to go to other countries. I spend the time to learn where others have messed up or you know, slang and things like that, that are gonna get you in trouble. It's doing the homework and and sometimes you're gonna make mistakes no matter what happens. I used to tell the story every time I got on an airplane, I ordered Tang, and it makes everybody laugh. Well, guess what? In London, they didn't drink a lot of time. Hang when they were kids. And so when I told that joke, they all stared at me. And and so you you've got to learn, and just requires more preparation. Our friend Scott Friedman has built a huge business overseas in Singapore and different places, but he's adapted his humor quite well and knows what works and what doesn't work.

Kenneth Kinney 20:22

Well, oftentimes, these speakers and then we want to know that what we're teaching or talking about is implemented and continued for days and weeks and months, insert whatever preferred timeframe you've got, how do you go about thinking about that with humor? And how a client or an audience can continue the funny if you will, so that the good effects that that you help bring out in a Keynote or workshop continues? Beyond?

Tim Gard 20:51

That's a great question. Success breeds success, that when they do things that work, people are more likely to continue them than if they fail. I hear a lot where people have contacted me later and said that their parts of their corporate culture has changed with the impact of the things that I've taught them. And that's, that's really meaningful to me. But I think more than anything else, people are not going to go home and study what we talk about. They're going to, they're going to accept it right now and make a change or not. And so humor helps people accept that it kind of keep their minds open to it. And, you know, the results for mice. I mean, I, I have people that have contacted me, 10 years after I've been there and say, you know, people still laugh about the big sweaty guy in the middle seat story or, or some of the other stories or things that I've told about how we need to let the little things go and do your dismount at the end of the day like a gymnast. So, you know, it's I guess that's it is success breeds success. They'll try it, it works, changes the culture.

Kenneth Kinney 21:54

That's a great point. Because, you know, we've got a lot of speaker friends and Hall of Fame speaker friends that they all say that once they've given a speech, then that speech gave a one bazillion percent increase in their revenue. And some of its true, some it's not it's hard to measure, though, with with humor. But it's such a great point about if it can just change the culture a lot. It doesn't necessarily even have to measure the number of laughs It just just being able to work with each other better and alleviate some of that stress is invalid. I mean, it's it's immeasurable.

Tim Gard 22:29

We'll just have them consciously make trying to make change is going to make a difference. Perhaps I'm, I'm doing a program for the million dollar roundtable coming up. It's really one of the brass rings for speakers. And I'm going to tell them, you know, that when somebody comes to insurance salesman, or well, you know, a wealth planning group, and, you know, they'll say, I think I can help you unless you're planning to retire tomorrow, or you know, something that can lighten it up a little bit when they're talking to somebody that's nervous. Anybody can use this. It's just a matter of making sure that it's it adds to it doesn't distract from

Kenneth Kinney 23:06

a point. Well, Tim, I ask everybody who appears on a shark's perspective. I know you said also your wife was a diver this can be humorous or not. But what is your favorite kind of shark? And why do you have a favorite shark or prop shark?

Tim Gard 23:21

You know, I I'm always been a great white fan. And I mean, from the days of jaws and, and all of the things around that, that I've always been terrified of them. I guess since I watched Jaws, it scares me when Sophia goes, swimming like that a lot. But I'm fascinated by the by the thought that there's an animal out there that does nothing but but kill and eat and swim and make baby sharks and kill and eat and swim. It's like, it's like talking about your simple job. You know, they, they I know. They don't sleep very much, but it's like, I got one. Let's see. What do I do? Oh, yeah, swim. I gotta swim. Yeah, I'll eat I mean, you know, I mean, it's a very uncomplicated life. True.

Kenneth Kinney 24:01

Well, Tim, it's a special time of the show. Are you ready for the five most interesting and important questions that you're gonna be asked today? I am. Alright. Number one. Props on stage, which are better funny glasses, or hand puppets?

Tim Gard 24:15

I would say funny glasses. Why so? hand puppets I think anytime you get hand puppets up you're gonna have people dealing with some real repressed memories. I would say just the funny glasses can't go wrong. I don't have any repressed memories of those.

Kenneth Kinney 24:30

Great point. All right, I was looking through it. I was thinking through a few different TV shows and movies and all kinds of things. But I got to a list because I was kind of scrolling through a Rolling Stone list. I thought you might appreciate these funny movies. Leslie Nielsen is in to have what I think are two of the funniest movies of all time. would like your opinion on which one you think is the funniest airplane or Naked Gun.

Tim Gard 24:57

Airplane change The way people looked at humor in the movies in my opinion, Naked Gun as a real has a clientele. There's a real set group of people really liked that movie. I like it. But airplane to me is one of the trendsetters in movies that really changed the nation. I think airplane

Kenneth Kinney 25:18

Agreed, but I will say that as a keynote speaker, you gotta appreciate that Naked Gun had such a powerful reminder not to leave your microphone on when go to the restroom and have to do number one.

Tim Gard25:30

It was too good.

Kenneth Kinney 25:31

That was good. All right, number three. Who in your mind performs the art of Stand Up Comedy better? Not the content. I'm not judging anything controversial this but Jerry Seinfeld or Dave Chappelle?

Tim Gard 25:48

You know, I would go with Jerry Seinfeld. I've spent a lot of time studying his the fact that he will spend months trying to add or take away one word for for a joke. His ability to craft. You know, a story is as long or as short as it should be a joke is simple in its elegance. I just have always admired his ability, his observational humor, but his ability to joke Smith, I think is superior.

Kenneth Kinney 26:15

I'm so glad to ask you that. Because that's the same thing I think with Jerry. And then the same thing with Dave Chappelle is how he does timing and with humor, and so much of it is about timing. And the the amount of words or limit of words, to be able to tell a great story. It's great, great point. All right, number four. So we talked about doing the presentations, overseas international events you do who laughs more in general, audiences in Europe, or audiences in Asia.

Tim Gard 26:44

I would say audiences in Europe, but the humor has to be smarter. It has to be more intelligent audience in Asia laugh but they're almost always they give time. It's like, it's not an immediate laugh. You know, it's like, if you ask a question of a group, they're they're gonna give, they give. They give credence to the question by thinking about it. And I think it's the same way with humor is they don't laugh immediately all at times, they give you the respect of having thought about it. So I would just say, I mean, that's a really interesting question. But I'd have to say, from personal experience, it would be Europe.

Kenneth Kinney 27:22

Well, I was also thinking about as I came up with that question, because I'm an MMA fanatic. And whenever you watch MMA in audience, especially like, Japan, whenever they're watching a fight, it's so quiet, but if they do an event in London, people are screaming and carrying on. But then when the round is over, or the event is over, Japanese are clapping as loud as everybody else, but they're, but the audiences are so measured and respectful. I think your your your synopsis was was spot on. All right, number five, in the most important question that you're going to be asked today is biscuits or cornbread.

Tim Gard 28:02

I gotta go with cornbread. If you have to get you have to have gravy with the biscuits, so they're just really an exercise in futility. Cornbread in and of itself could be a work of art, so I'd have to go with cornbread.

Kenneth Kinney 28:15

Perfect. Alright, so Tim, where can people find out more about you learn more about what you're doing with humor, laugh at your jokes, keep up with your speaking and more.

Tim Gard 28:23

WW dot Tim guard t i m g ard.com. I also do safety training. And that's sticky. safety.com just how it's spelled all one word. But feel free to go on there. I'm on YouTube. I've got DiMeo all kinds of things like that. You can email me Tim at Tim gard.com.

Kenneth Kinney 28:43

Tim, thank you so much for being with us today on A Shark's Perspective.

Tim Gard28:47

Good to be here. I'll come back anytime you want my friend.

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Kenneth Kinney 28:56

So there was my conversation with Tim Gard a certified speaking professional and a member of the speaker Hall of Fame who teaches people to be more resilient and resourceful, and coaches businesses on how to enhance productivity and employee enthusiasm. Let's take a look at three key takeaways from a conversation with him.

Kenneth Kinney 29:14

First Tim's an excellent speaker and very funny on the podcasts and on stage he brings up a great point about using humor to shift people's perspectives. Sometimes you have no control over situation. But that doesn't mean you have to get angry when something goes wrong. Depends on the situation. Of course it doesn't always work. However, a lot of times finding a laugh wherever it may be hiding can help you look at what we cannot control a much different and better way.

Kenneth Kinney 29:41

Second, we spoke about how leaders can develop a positive humor plan. And that ain't easy. Some leaders and bosses are not funny and way too rigid. But even they can add a humor plan to help make this impact. Tim says find what works for you start small and start with the end of the boring meeting. Thanks. I agree with that. And now if we just get your manager to laugh a little bit.

Kenneth Kinney 30:03

Third, as a speaker, I and all of us look to measure the success of a Keynote or a workshop. Months later, a lot of speakers will tell that a company had a 200% increase in sales, for example, after one of their sessions, but measuring humor in the workplace isn't easy. Tim said that humor helps people make change, and success breeds success. And if they'll try it, then it works. And it will change the culture that's hard to measure with smiles and laughs But those smiles and laughs can be worth their weight in gold when measuring the positive impact to a team's culture.

Kenneth Kinney 30:37

Got a question? Send me an email to Kenneth at a shark's perspective.com.

Kenneth Kinney 30:41

Thank you again for the privilege of your time and I am so thankful to everyone who listens.

Kenneth Kinney 30:46

And I will leave you with the immortal words of Dr. Seuss. From there to here and here to there. Funny things are everywhere. And I hope that you will join us here on the next episode of A Shark's Perspective.

(Music - shark theme)