It’s almost the 4th of July. Do you know why we really broke away from the British?
I shared it with a reporter from the BBC- and there is a surprising lesson about communication in this tale.
I was the mayor of my hometown and a woman came up to me and said that I had to find a way to get people to stop at the stop signs. I told her that the language on the sign was fairly clear in its directive, but she didn’t buy that.
I thought, “okay, why not have fun with this?” Let’s do something that no one else in the country has tried. So I wrote up 25 phrases that would be placed under all the stop signs to hopefully make people stop for one more second, and smile.
Here were a couple of the signs we put under the word “stop”:
“In the N-a-a-a-a-ame of Love”
“Woah woah wait a minute”
“Right there pilgrim”
“Billion Dollar Fine”
“Do not pass go”
“And smell the roses”
“Or I’m telling your mom”
“Who goes there?”
“Or I’ll Scream!”
The signs idea was picked up by the AP wire and news outlets across the country, including the reporter from the BBC. She said she had heard about these humorous stop signs and would I tell her about it.
I read off several from the list. She stared at me, paused, and said in the accent of the Queen, “Yes, right. But which ones would be fahhny?”
I said, “You know, this is the real reason why we left you people – no sense of humor. Had nothing to do with taxation without representation.”
She didn’t get it.
What’s the takeaway?
Technology is at its fastest and everyone in business is speeding. How will you make them stop? Try humor, when its least expected. It disarms, builds trust, and gets people to stop – and listen. It’s also the single strongest element of a positive and healthy work culture.
That’s what we teach you at The Headliners.
Enjoy your Independence Day. And never stop laughing.
