Alec Hogg: Rational Alternative

marketing expert Suzanne Stevens.

It was a breath of fresh air laughing through an evening where comedians never needed to reach into an overused cussing or racist bag. I’ve no idea how the material will be adapted into a marketing strategy. But on a line through the quality of Conrad Koch (Chester Missing), Kagiso Lediga, Stuart Taylor and Daniel Friedman, the innovative Stevens (and BrightRock) look to be onto a winner.

One of the greatest proponents of using humour to get serious messages across is the world’s most successful investor, Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett (83).

Every year on the first Saturday in May, Buffett and his 89year-old vice-chairman, Charlie Munger, draw 30 000 shareholders and fans to remote Omaha, Nebraska, for the world’s bestattended AGM. The two octogenarians spend 5½ hours answering shareholders’ questions about economics, investment and life — pretty serious subjects. What makes it palatable, fascinating even, is their wisecracking. Buffett and his famously curmudgeonly partner are masters of the one-liner. Their sense of humour makes entertainment out of what would otherwise be a lecture, a sermon even.

Another exponent of the craft is Boston Philharmonic conductor Benjamin Zander.

A brilliant musician, he combines that skill with inspirational stories to deliver memorable keynotes. Again, his secret weapon is humour. He often spoke of his Holocaust-survivor father, who never complained. Even in the most bitter weather he’d say any discomfort was not caused by the cold, but simply by “inappropriate clothing”.

Zander’s one-liner that will always stay with me is his Rule Number Six: “Don’t take yourself so goddamn seriously.”

That advice, like laughter, can be a wonderful antidote. Hogg is a writer and broadcaster who founded Moneyweb. He now runs biznews.com @alechogg