Member since November 2019
It's no secret: to be competitive and innovative, your company has to be a place people actually want to work. Choose-worthy culture!
That's getting harder.
Creativity and innovation live at the intersection of courage, trust, and connection. Turns out, that looks a lot like humor.
No, not jokes at the water cooler. Be cool, HR. HA!
While leading global tech product and marketing teams by day — and working as a comedian by night — for 25 years, I learned something: the biggest laughs come from trust and connection. Laughter builds community. And the biggest standing ovations happen when courage fills the air. When connection was strongest, so was innovation.
I got curious. Could this be how we get teams to have braver conversations and take bolder risks?
That curiosity became my business, my book (Stop Boring Me! — Inc.com called it a "CXO Must-Read"), and a career advising global teams, execs, and senior leaders on building braver cultures.
Today I work with companies around the world.
Trust, connection, and courage lead to innovation. Humor and laughter open the door.
Check out my top LinkedIn Learning courses
(15K+ learners): Leading in the Moment with Improv → linkedin.com/learning/leading-in-the-moment
(10K+ learners): Humor for Leaders - A Guide to Building Connection, Safety & Trust -> linkedin.com/learning/humor-a-leader-s-guide-to-connection-safety-and-trust
I bring keynotes and programs to tech, product, marketing, HR, sales, women execs, and teams — including Amazon, Cisco Systems, Kaiser Permanente, Portola Pharma, Genentech, Autodesk, United Way, IBM, Twilio, and Stanford University and Hospital.
Leaders — ready for you and your team to be braver? Let's talk.
ABOUT:
Kathy left a tech VP role to start Keeping It Human. She holds an MBA and MA from Stanford and Berkeley.
She performs comedy nationwide, including at The Improv, and scored a Top 3 finish in the 2022 Plethos SF Comedy Contest. Trained at ComedySportz and LA's Second City, her work has been featured in Forbes and The Huffington Post. Inc.com named her book, Stop Boring Me!, a "CXO Must-Read."
Leaders, ready for you and your teams to be braver?
Let's talk!
kathy(at)keepingithuman(dot)com
Exploding team innovation, creativity and bolder conversations because we put humor, playfulness and humanity back into how teams work. People want to engage - they want to feel safer and more supported. I am in the transformation business - and laughter is the ultimate algorithm as a measure and tool for making people feel safer and supported.
How a $2B company went from high-flying to no one buying - the defining moment the culture shifted and innovation died: My signature "Penguins and Elephants" story (How Valuing Employees and having Their Backs is the KEY to ongoing innovation).
While leading tech product / marketing teams by day (over 17 years), and working as a comedian by night for 25 years including Second City (yes, overlap), I learned that the biggest laughs come from trust and connection. Laughter builds community. And the biggest standing ovations come when courage filled the air. When connection was strongest, so was innovation.
I got curious. Is this how we get my own team to create better storytelling, customer service, productivity? That answer was "YES!"
When teams feel safer and connected, when there is greater trust, there is greater courage. That translates to bigger, bolder ideas.
That led me to start my business, write my 3rd book, "Stop Boring Me!" about comedy principles for innovation, and advise global teams, execs and senior leaders on braver culture. Today I work with companies around the world.
Trust, connection and courage lead to innovation. Humor and laughter opens that door.
Discover how to cultivate a team environment where creativity thrives, risks are embraced, and innovation and laughter – there’s plenty – become second nature.
Key Takeaways:
The key to thriving in uncertainty is adaptability.
This interactive, laughter-filled talk includes ways for every person and leader to get learning and laughing TODAY.
We improvise every day.
Improvisation is agility and resilience and it's that moment all of who you are meets a pivotal moment of change - like Covid.
Thinking like an improviser means saying 'yes and!' to all of who you are and to others so you can unlock bolder collaboration, conversation and ideas.
And step up to meet the needs of the moment with all of who you are.
Embrace your (and every member of your team's) inner improvisational leader to unlock your next big idea and meet the challenges of a fast changing world.
This fun, interactive and story-filled talk is for leaders, teams, HR folks - even C-suite execs - on how to add sustainable levity and humor to a culture of well-being and trust.
This talk includes
- tips aimed at leaders and at team members on how to be more playful AND stay on the right side of laughter - which is laughter that builds trust, lifts people up and connects.
- stories, practices to help you learn what can you do? What can leaders do? What can HR do?
Everyone plays a role in making it safer and happier - and humor is our creative and human birthright!
(This talk was a big hit at BambooHR's Virtual Summit!)
AND ...it's based on my Linkedin Learning Course on Humor for Leaders.
How a $2B company went from high-flying to no one buying - the defining moment the culture shifted and innovation died: My signature "Penguins and Elephants" story (How Valuing Employees and having Their Backs is the KEY to ongoing innovation).
While leading tech product / marketing teams by day (over 17 years), and working as a comedian by night for 25 years including Second City (yes, overlap), I learned that the biggest laughs come from trust and connection. Laughter builds community. And the biggest standing ovations come when courage filled the air. When connection was strongest, so was innovation.
I got curious. Is this how we get my own team to create better storytelling, customer service, productivity? That answer was "YES!"
When teams feel safer and connected, when there is greater trust, there is greater courage. That translates to bigger, bolder ideas.
That led me to start my business, write my 3rd book, "Stop Boring Me!" about comedy principles for innovation, and advise global teams, execs and senior leaders on braver culture. Today I work with companies around the world.
Trust, connection and courage lead to innovation. Humor and laughter opens that door.
Discover how to cultivate a team environment where creativity thrives, risks are embraced, and innovation and laughter – there’s plenty – become second nature.
Key Takeaways:
The key to thriving in uncertainty is adaptability.
This interactive, laughter-filled talk includes ways for every person and leader to get learning and laughing TODAY.
We improvise every day.
Improvisation is agility and resilience and it's that moment all of who you are meets a pivotal moment of change - like Covid.
Thinking like an improviser means saying 'yes and!' to all of who you are and to others so you can unlock bolder collaboration, conversation and ideas.
And step up to meet the needs of the moment with all of who you are.
Embrace your (and every member of your team's) inner improvisational leader to unlock your next big idea and meet the challenges of a fast changing world.
This fun, interactive and story-filled talk is for leaders, teams, HR folks - even C-suite execs - on how to add sustainable levity and humor to a culture of well-being and trust.
This talk includes
- tips aimed at leaders and at team members on how to be more playful AND stay on the right side of laughter - which is laughter that builds trust, lifts people up and connects.
- stories, practices to help you learn what can you do? What can leaders do? What can HR do?
Everyone plays a role in making it safer and happier - and humor is our creative and human birthright!
(This talk was a big hit at BambooHR's Virtual Summit!)
AND ...it's based on my Linkedin Learning Course on Humor for Leaders.
