So the writing and working are very tangled.
Actually, the job is very important to the writing, because the job
is very aggravating, and aggravation and pain are what produce
humor.
Humor and business seem like an odd couple.
It's true. But when you think about the great humorists, work is
definitely one of the things that people think about every day.
There is one great TV series about it that's the only one that's
really gotten what it's like to work in an office, and that's the
British show The Office. But we Americans don't seem to be able to
do that because we have this notion that business is separate from
work. That people who work in business are not like you and me. The
Apprentice continues that fallacy. That the world of the boardroom
is so different, and you have to have different skills. And that's
not really the case. My father was an academic. He worked as a
professor at a university. They had more infighting and back
stabbing about who would get a desk chair than we have about
mergers and acquisitions. I think it's just about people. You know,
I think about those books about moving cheese and have to think,
this isn't rocket science. You try your best to build alliances,
make friends, you try and care about the people you work with. One
problem I try and address in my stuff is the people you work for
aren't always ennobled by those same things. They're generally out
to try and beat the other guy and win and not be short. That's a
big thing for men in business. A lot of really successful ones are
short for some reason. We don't really know why. Science is still
studying the issue.
How reliable is wit as a corporate weapon?