Sarah Cooper On Her Superpower Of Being Funny

Sarah Cooper is hysterical. She did the corporate thing before taking a shot at becoming a comedian, struggling, doubling down on the corporate job, and then eventually tripling down and breaking out as an artist. 

If you’re a creative with a side hustle, or a creative with a creative streak in your main hustle, Cooper’s story is admirable. 

This quote is from her HBR IdeaCast interview, “Comedian Sarah Copper On Bringing Humor To Any Career.” It’s about how injecting funny into serious conversations can be a superpower to driving change:

You can try to tell someone, “Hey, you’re wrong. You know, this is the right way to be. This is the right way to think about this…” That will get you absolutely nowhere. But, if you make someone laugh at the truth of the situation, I don’t know, it opens a door that I don’t think could be opened otherwise. 

Getting people to laugh a little can get them to disarm. Getting people to understand the variables at play by pointing out what’s silly around a truth is how minds ultimately change. 

Give the interview a listen and check out the rest of Sarah Cooper’s stuff. 

Ps. My favorite gift to manager friends last year was her daily calendar, “How To Appear Smart In Meetings.” 

Pss. I’m really excited for her next book, Let’s Catch Up Soon: How I Won Friends And Influenced People Against My Will. The Dale Carnegie business networking tips that have been shared with me my entire career, are in sore need of a perspective shift (from a non-white/male/business executive voice). It sounds like she’s going to give it to us and I can’t wait.