Ron Gutman and the Hidden Power of Smiling

Over 25 years ago, I joined the circus as a clown and did my best to make people smile and laugh. About 5 years ago, my dad and then business partner wrote an article about the benefits of smiling. In 2013, I launched Office Oxygen, so that people could smile more at work! So, when I came across Ron Gutman’s TED Talk about the Power of Smiling, I was immediately intrigued!

The timing of my finding this video is also fortuitous, as I was recently swept in to a LinkedIN discussion about offering rewards and chocolate during learning events. While I’ve always been an advocate, many of the participants were concerned that incentives for learning minimized the importance of learning for the sake of learning. (The conversation was much deeper than this, but you get the gist). So, for all those wondering if jokes and chocolate are “worth it,” Ron Gutman’s TED Talk on the Power of Smiling offers oodles of research the benefits derived from smiling. Maybe we can forget the chocolate, prizes, and jokes and get to the punch line . . . the SMILE!