Page 93 - Free the Idea Monkey

The “Out the Scott” Birthday
Joe Kim is a shareholder in the firm who,

in a former life, was a diversity coach. Joe
is 100 percent Asian. Korean to be exact. He
looks the part and proudly lets everyone in on
his heritage.

On the morning of Joe’s birthday, I walked
into his office, gave him a classic Scottish
costume, and asked him to play along and O’Kim Family Crest
put it on. At our 9@9 meeting, I made the startling announcement

that Joe’s wife had told me that Joe was not Korean.
He was actually Scottish. We then unveiled his
family crest — filled with as many Asian cliches as
possible — and then ushered in a bagpipe player
to regale us with stories about the famous “Kim”
family and play the Kim family song.
(Note: this would have been absolutely offensive
in the wrong environment with the wrong person.
Credit goes to Joe and our culture that doesn’t take
itself too seriously.)
(Note 2: being overly PC can also kill ideas ... but

I digress.)

LOOSENING UP THE SUITS
We first started noticing the liberating possibilities of linking

fun and work in the early ’90s in a meeting with an extremely con-
servative, extremely large utility company. You have probably been
in a similar room—think suits; think fear; think awkward silence.

During this “mandatory” brainstorm session, someone offered
up an idea as a joke. “I know,” he said, tongue firmly in cheek. “We
can send customers a bill that actually explains all of the charges in
plain English.” He meant it as a joke, of course. And one joke led to
another. Then something amazing happened: at one point the most
senior person in the room commented, “You know, that’s really not

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