Humor, Seriously by Jennifer Aaker & Naomi Bagdonas

Author:Jennifer Aaker & Naomi Bagdonas [Aaker, Jennifer & Bagdonas, Naomi]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Crown
Published: 2021-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

The Cold Open

There’s a third way to set a tone with levity: an advanced form of icebreaker called the “cold open.” Cold opens are attention-grabbing, memorable, and often the favored tool of professional facilitators.

One such professional is Chris Ertel, a social scientist, strategic conversation designer (a title he invented for the work he does), and coauthor with Lisa Kay Solomon of the book Moments of Impact. One of Ertel’s all-time favorite cold opens is one he designed called the Backwards Bicycle, drawing on the viral video by engineer Destin Sandlin.

Backwards Bicycle involves a bicycle that works just like a normal bike, except when you turn the handlebars to the right, the wheel turns to the left, and when you turn the handlebars to the left, the wheel turns to the right. You’d think that learning to ride this contraption would be a pretty simple thing to figure out, given that we all know how to ride a bicycle.

It’s not. Here’s how the cold open works: The participants are convened at the start of the session, where a backwards bicycle sits at the front of the room. Ertel holds out a helmet and challenges a volunteer to ride the bike from one end of the stage to the other. Inevitably, the volunteer tries and fails. Once the laughter dies down, he pauses the exercise. “We must have a knowledge gap at play,” he explains. “You can’t ride the bike because I haven’t given you the information you need.” So he explains in greater detail how the bicycle works. The volunteer nods, confident, ready to give it another go. She’s got this!

But she hasn’t got this. A new volunteer is called, and of course he’s no more successful than the first.

Ertel again pauses the exercise and feigns confusion: “You have all the information you need—you know how to ride the bike in this new way. So what we have here must be a problem of motivation! I haven’t incentivized you adequately.” And with that, Ertel reaches into his pocket and pulls out $200 in $20 bills. Eyes widen. “Who’d like to give it a try now?”

One after another, grown men and women climb onto a bicycle and wobble about on the stage, some even toppling over. They’re so determined, and they try all kinds of different techniques. Some even try to cheat. Meanwhile, the room is full of laughter.

This might sound like some kind of sadistic hazing ritual, but in reality, the Backwards Bicycle is designed to illuminate a principle central to what he has been tasked with convening this group to tackle. It demonstrates, quite simply, that change is hard—even if we know how we need to change, and even if we’re motivated to change.

In his debrief, Ertel thoughtfully harvests reflections from the group to weave together the story he knows they will tell. Deeply ingrained patterns of thinking, behavior, and process underlie the challenge of the day—and this group cannot expect their triumphant ride into the sunset to come without sustained commitment and setback.

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