Seriously, were you not thinking? The role of humor in IT management

Must a leader be serious? Back in 1998, I was a junior SAP consultant at a global German pharmaceutical company. A year into my new job, I was energetic, enthusiastic, and highly motivated. Despite my inexperience, I led the implementation of a finance application in our Italian subsidiary and was running at full steam.

One Thursday evening, I returned from Milan to Berlin. On the airport bus, I bumped into a senior manager with whom I shared a five-minute conversation. He seemed a little reluctant toward SAP, so I tried to convince him that projects could work very well, provided we changed our approach. Notably, I argued that focusing on key capabilities (rather than long drawn out process maps) and integrating key knowledge matter experts early were instrumental factors for successful project execution. Furthermore, the company required high internal SAP skills and needed to stop overpaying for consultancies, stacking up projects with junior consultants.

He seemed in dire need of positive emotions, so to loosen up the conversation, I cracked a few jokes. He did not seem overly interested and increasingly, his face seemed to turn even more sour. Just then, from out of nowhere he burst out, “You are never going to make it into management.”

Perplexed, I asked, “Why not?”

His answer: “You are not serious enough. You laugh too much.”

With that, the bus stopped, and I do not remember seeing him again. Perhaps he was right. A few months later, I left my employer and became an independent consultant. But the question stuck with me: Are leaders allowed to crack jokes?

Jeff Bezos

For many, Jeff Bezos is something of a demigod of management. Amazon ranks as one of the highest valued companies in the world, and it is still proliferating. The simple vision of one shop for everything made it a worldwide success. While few would doubt his intelligence and ability to grasp complex problems, Bezos is a risk-taker. When starting Amazon and asking for a loan from his family, he explained that the likelihood of failure was 70%.

By no account, however, is Bezos a nice guy. He is relentless, dominating, and even stingy with his employees. One of the only freebies at Amazon is treats for the dogs of visitors. So if you are looking for a work–life balance, do not apply at Amazon.

Disproving the dour manager I met in the airport bus, Bezos possesses an almost obnoxious and boisterous laughter. In his early days, he came over a bit geeky. Nonetheless, he was highly convincing, driven, and ruthless. A core of steel hides behind his use of humor.

Bezos uses laughter as a weapon and does so often and pointedly. Does humor help break down barriers between people or even assist the thinking process of innovation? Bezos laughs and is hugely successful. How powerful is humor?

To better understand the role of humor, let’s turn to an organization that was devoid of laughter entirely: Hitler’s Third Reich.

Eugen Wasner, a tragic hero

In 1943, Wasner was one of the millions of German soldiers on the Russian front. In his pre-war life, he had been an accountant. He was unmarried, a bit of an oddball, and a gifted storyteller. With great talent, he entertained his platoon with accounts and commentaries of the strategic errors of the Führer and the High Command. A small group of soldiers listened cheerfully. Amazingly, Wasner knew Hitler from his childhood in Leonding, close to the Austrian town of Linz. One day, a soldier asked Wasner why he did not write to Hitler and explain to him personally what was going on.

To which Wasner replied that Hitler had always been a fool with crazy ideas. When the boys were six years old, Hitler asked Wasner and a friend to join a boyhood prank that would go disastrously wrong for Ado (as Wasner called Hitler).

Young Hitler commanded Wasner and his friend to hold a goat, after which the future Führer would unzip his trousers and relieve himself into the mouth of the poor animal. Unfortunately, Wasner’s friend let go of the stick he had been using to restrain the unruly animal. The beast sought revenge and went straight for Hitler’s “zipidäus”. The beast succeeded in decimating the Führer’s manhood by a few centimeters. Thus, Ado ran crying to his mommy, who, by some accounts, was the only person Hitler ever loved.

Wasner concluded that “Ado” had always been a fool and would never listen. Therefore, writing to him would be entirely pointless.

Predictably, the responses varied from roaring laughter to partisan outrage. A well-meaning officer tried to make Wasner retract but to no avail. Wasner stuck to his guns with results that were as predictable as tragic. Two days later, he was shipped off to a Berlin prison on a charge of treason. Since Hitler’s body was burned in 1945, it is unlikely we will ever find out if the story was true. We do, however, know the events that followed Wasner’s imprisonment.

Dietrich Wilde had the unthankful task of defending Wasner as attorney. In 1984, he wrote this account in a book under the pseudonym of Dietrich Güstrow. The book, Tödlicher Alltag, is unfortunately only available in German.

Wasner’s story spread through the judicial community of Berlin like wildfire. Behind a veil of secrecy, the story was passed on amid convulsions of laughter. It made for great gossip and brought smiles to all those who remained unconvinced of national socialism.

In an attempt to save the life of his doomed client, Wilde pleaded for insanity. According to him, he even suggested calling Hitler himself as a witness. The judge was unamused and replied that Wilde “would get them all killed.” However, Wasner stuck to his story, by then having lost any hope of survival. The case went as high as Wilhelm Keitel, Hitler’s Chief of Staff, who made sure the execution by guillotine proceeded in record time.

For that brief moment, Hitler became a laughingstock, and the story temporarily neutralized some of his authority. Hitler may have rightly perceived Wasner’s story as a threat. The other friend, who had retracted the stick, had already died under mysterious circumstances during the 1930s.

Millions of people died on the Eastern Front, with little impact on Hitler’s authority. Yet, the goat decimated not just Hitler’s “zipidäus” but also his ability to reign over minds. Can humor somehow make us see the truth? Hitler wasn’t just an evil mass murderer but a man with extraordinary incompetence which ultimately led to failure — fortunately for the rest of the world.

The neurology of authority

Gregory Berns is a neuroscientist at Emory University and has extensively researched the neurological basis of authority. His findings indicate that authority is based on the inhibition of certain thought processes by the emotion of fear. Authority does not change or subvert thinking but instead blocks neurological signals from the brain centers where rational thought happens.

Fear, fortunately, does not rule unrestrained. Perception can also fight back and override fear — understanding can make us overcome authority. The neurology of compliance does not just extend to human bosses but also to beliefs like religion, ideology, and even scientific paradigms.

The amygdala seems to be central to the functioning of authority. This small region of the brain is something like an “alarm center,” interpreting emotions and either inhibiting or activating actions and behavior patterns. People without a functioning amygdala might feel fear but would be unable to translate it into an appropriate action or behavior pattern.

With the help of an fMRI scan, Berns showed the exact flow of thoughts during compliance. In his experiments, the subject’s task was to compare two three-dimensional figures to determine whether or not they are identical. Meanwhile, by means of a heads-up display, the subject was led to believe that four other partners were choosing the wrong answer. Will the subject comply and go along with group consensus, or will he or she be capable of judging independently? Berns showed that the likelihood of giving the correct answer is no better than flipping a coin.

Berns could prove that signals traveled a path from the optical nerve to the back of the head (the occipital lobe) where signals are assembled into “images.” Normally, the signals would then flow from the occipital lobe, through the brain, and into the frontal lobe where rational thinking takes place. But the amygdala, our alarm center, can stop the signals from reaching the frontal lobe. It is like an electrical short-circuit — only with thought.

There is also a good indication that when this happens, the parietal lobe receives “wrong” data and commits it to memory. Hence, we do not just think wrongly in the moment — we also start to remember untruths. Further investigations have revealed that the amygdala is highly connected to other areas of the brain. For example, disgust and racism happen in the same brain regions and are closely linked to the insula and anterior cingulate cortex.

True innovators, like Bezos, are less fazed by the impact of their amygdala. Simply speaking, the amygdala of innovators does not as easily stop signals to the frontal lobe. Berns believes that increased dopamine levels may have something to do with it. On the other hand, Bezos also has a strong perception and is an executive who cares deeply about all the bells and whistles within the company.

On another note, the neurology of the amygdala has a great influence on our political life. Without it, populists or authoritarian rulers would be impossible. Dictators thrive on obedient followers. The American-born scientist Bob Altemeyer has described the psychological profile of especially compliant people: authoritarian followers. Authoritarian followers are aggressive towards outsiders, prejudiced, firm believers in a cause, and easy to manipulate by evil leaders. Moreover, dictators abuse their weakness as they demand loyalty over facts.

Authoritarian followers have particular trouble thinking straight, but it seems irrational followership has infected us all.

A critical shortage of toilet paper!

What could be more hilarious than a shortage of toilet paper? There are infinite ways of replacing toilet paper, extensive production facilities, and its lack is not an immediate threat to human life. Indeed, a scientific study on the toilet paper frenzy during the COVID-19 pandemic revealed that it all started as a joke. The study also showed how the joke went so unfortunately wrong.

Nonsensical news flies through the internet and our amygdala picks up the signal as “interesting.” Fake news spreads quicker because it activates our alarm center, while rational information is not as interesting. As people continued exchanging the jokes, bots picked up on the message and spammed it across the world wide web.

People with authoritarian tendencies picked up on it and became frantic. Slowly, fear took over and many others started believing it. There was a short burst of panic purchases — store shelves emptied and some fights broke out. The joke turned into reality and even the more rational people became concerned.

Exacerbating the problem, few people read the news — most get their information from highly partisan multimedia outlets. With reduced perception, our frontal lobes are at the mercy of the amygdala. If a rumor about toilet paper can cause a frenzy, a real crisis can do so much more damage! The Brexit campaign, Trump’s election, even calls to hunt down the Rohingya, all spread through Facebook, Twitter, and other channels.

As humans are a product of evolution, what may have been the advantages for Homo sapiens to rely on such mind-numbing authority? The following is, broadly, the theory of my book Raindance for Growth.

Compliance is nothing other than a form of altruism, a willingness to cooperate. As the root of compliance is fear, it complements empathy (the desire to do good for others) and forestalls personal benefit for this reason, as a new set of highly beneficial behaviors. It is

· extremely efficient (no nagging, everyone follows orders without question),

· almost infinitely scalable (authorities can scare a small tribe or a nation of millions),

· creates diversity (an authoritarian Stone Age strike force as well as artisans, inventors, and explorers), and

· allows great adaptability to circumstances (when a crisis hits, humans rise against a threat).

Dictators follow a strategy to exploit authoritarian followers for their benefit. Evolutionarily speaking, this is a highly beneficial strategy and almost impossible to subdue. We are the only highly intelligent species that has achieved such a feat, which has put us in the top spot on this planet.

Unfortunately, in the modern world, and particularly in IT management, Stone Age instincts do not fit very well.

The consequences for IT management

To resolve authority issues in IT management, we need to battle authority on many fronts. Sometimes we can increase perception, other times we may be able to reduce fear. Certainly laughing out loud seems to help. So does, however, getting down to details and making sure we do not follow fake authorities — for example, sellers who pose as experts for their commercial benefit.

Laughter breaks down barriers. Smile; be humorous and friendly. Positive and pleasant professionalism will take us far. Those we collaborate with (even if they are annoying) must see that we do not intend to threaten them. Jokes really help in discussions, especially during tense situations. In my experience, jokes also signal to the other party an openness and resilience under pressure — do not underestimate the effectiveness of an open discussion without intellectual barriers.

Laughter may also support your own thinking process. By worrying less what your bosses say, you are more inclined to think straight. That, of course, is more the job of the manager than the employee. The greatest task of a good IT manager is to support constructive thought and the free flow of information.

However, fearlessness towards aggressive stakeholders may also be in order. People who are used to operating from a position of authority can create significant issues. In a particularly aggressive and threatening case, I bided my time. I was attacked in multiple meetings, often in larger crowds. No outreach helped — the guy continued his aggressive behavior.

One day, I was in a meeting where I had more allies than he did. I counterattacked by launching an aggressive two-minute diatribe on his disrespectful behavior and my intention to take the matter straight to top management and HR the next time. We are unlikely to become friends, but since then, he’s stayed put. In my estimate, he is a social dominator that calculates his chances and preys on those he thinks are helpless. Watch your back around this type of person, as they will exploit any sign of weakness.

Boldness is tremendous, but take risks wisely: confronting authority always comes with the possibility of failure, as the story of Eugen Wasner proves. We can’t win if we’re dead. So choose your fights well and be strategic. Fortunately for us, the world of IT lacks good experts. Being fired from a job, most of us can find a new one — unlike Wasner, we aren’t under the threat of guillotine!

Increasing perception

Pick up on new technologies and trends. Traditional IT departments arose on ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems like SAP. These applications create backend processes like order creation and invoicing. Nowadays, digitalization has become more complicated. New technologies enhance the digital scope. As a result, IT departments need new routes to expertise, and ERP systems need to evolve to integrate these new trends.

Spend time with business experts and have an open mind to what they say. Even specialists can be entrenched in ideas and hostile. Understand their perspective and, in turn, create one for them. Once you have their trust, you may use these partners as influencers to the board or higher management. Often, IT has little board attention. Seeking allies is vital to moving a digital agenda.

Start small and then go big. Innovative ideas often start with tiny budgets and then grow big. Setting up a software development team can be especially difficult. Start slow, possibly with a freelancer. You may discover that your software development will grow very quickly.

Beware of quacks (who are in it for the sales pitch)

In the Middle Ages, self-proclaimed healers sold magic potions and other useless medicines. The enemies of decent corporate system architecture are pretty much just like these quacks, only greedier. Selling IT as a quasi-religion is nothing new, and the late Steve Jobs of Apple was one of its greatest masters. Ultimately, all sellers have your best in mind — your best money, that is.

One of the greatest villains is Gartner. Gartner charges software vendors for evaluations and customers for consultancy services. Their “magic quadrants” provide a catchy frame for management, but true leaders like Bezos would never bother even looking at them.

Software vendors will go straight to the business, hoping to circumvent vetting by IT. The road to management with most consultancies is to push junior consultants into projects. They can demand high rates and have little costs. Unfortunately, seniors are rare, hard to acquire, and provide lower margins.

How Bezos does it

At Amazon, PowerPoint slides are a big no-no because they undermine the thought process and help to gloss over crucial points. Instead, Bezos gets his employees to write articles of 4,000 words to discuss new project ideas. Meetings start by all participants reading these stories. Then discussion begins.

Teams are small, and big meetings of tens, or even hundreds of people, are discouraged. Amazon Pizza Teams are small enough to eat lunch from a single pizza, and they produce direct communication with little authoritarian barriers. Innovations take place in small teams.

Bezos uses fourteen leadership principles, of which seven are listed below:

Customer Obsession: Look at the customer and focus on reality, not internal priorities.

Are Right, a Lot: Managers make decisions, but they must also actively check their assumptions and take critical feedback into account.

Learn and Be Curious: Stay open to new experiences.

Bias for Action: Rapid pace, needed to drive Amazon in a tight time frame. Lose no time.

Dive Deep: Never gloss over details; make sure you understand the nuts and bolts.

Invent and Simplify: Keep things simple, don’t complicate.

Have Backbone; Disagree and Commit: Once a decision is taken, we must follow through.

Unlike a mindless dictator, Bezos expects people to think in order to drive his vision. Nevertheless, he calls the shots and decides whose opinions are valuable for the company. But do not make the mistake of believing that people who can think straight are necessarily nice guys — they just do not expect you to reduce your thinking processes for the sake of doing homage to them. Building an innovative company would not be possible otherwise.

On the other hand, people who manipulate and are unable to think are almost always toxic.

Finally

My former company is in deep trouble today. It faces a major US lawsuit and will run into a patent cliff in 2025. So far, they have been unable to bring a COVID-19 vaccine to market. Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, who invented the BioNTech vaccine, instead chose the American company, Pfizer, as their partner. The company is going through significant restructuring plans, but it is unclear if even this will help, as the product pipeline is all but frozen.

Back in 1997, during the early days of Amazon, Bezos went to speak at Harvard Business School. After his presentation, a discussion started around the possible future of Amazon. Almost all these high-flying students were outspoken and negative about Amazon’s future. They bluntly recommended to Bezos that he sell to Barnes & Noble.

Bezos listened politely and gave the following answer: “You might be right. But I think you might be underestimating the degree to which established brick-and-mortar business, or any company that might be used to doing things a certain way, will find it hard to be nimble or to focus attention on a new channel. I guess we’ll see.”

In times of change, innovators like Bezos have the last laugh. They don’t run around in sour faces and have difficulty coming to terms with a new reality. Rather, they embrace it and its new challenges. Humor creates an irreverence to authority — be it dour managers or out-of-date paradigms.