If you are lucky enough to get invited to a business conference in Hawaii called “The Lobby,” you will find yourself without an agenda or any presentations or workshops to attend.  This conference is set up to be just the fun and most interesting part of a conference: the conversations people have in the lobby.  “The Lobby” sells out every year and keeps growing in size.

To find the human force of nature behind this networking mecca, look no further than the short man who is greeting guests while dressed in full costume as Tattoo¹ from the 1970s show “Fantasy Island.” Meet David Hornik, a well-respected venture capitalist partner at August Capital, who envisioned and founded this unusual conference.

In addition to bringing out this costumed, levity-creating personality for a short window of time on the island of Hawaii, Hornik is also known for bringing humor into his every day job.  Hornik describes his job as decidedly non-humorous; he spends an enormous amount of time sitting in meetings where people have an hour to pitch their business, usually quite seriously and earnestly. (Oh – and large amounts of money and the future of a company are often at stake).  Hornik’s numerous meetings continue with board meetings for his portfolio companies (which, again, deal with the trajectory, or even the survival, of the companies – not an atmosphere that induces levity).

But Hornik has the unique ability to be funny in these situations, and the benefits go well beyond getting laughs; his humor adds real value.

To understand how he does this, let’s find out more about Hornik and his unique sense of humor.

To understand how Hornik ended up in Hawaii in full costume in front of hundreds of people (and how he developed an expertise in wisecracking during important meetings), we have to go back in time to when Hornik was in college.  It is a truism that college students have many diverse and important goals for their time at an institution of higher learning.  However, for Hornik and his two funny roommates (they lived in a one-room triple dorm room sophomore year), their number one goal was to be funny:

This is a contest that has continued throughout their lives (read on to find out who is winning the contest and why).

Fast forward a few years… Hornik broadened his comedic reach (and the associated risk level) by bringing his brand of humor into a law firm where he interned during law school.  This anecdote starts with Hornik making a passing comment: He said to the senior partner running the summer program that it was a silly tradition to come into the office wearing suits.  He said, “Frankly you could come to work in your pajamas and do this job.”  In response, this very senior attorney said to him, “David, if you come to work in your pajamas, I’ll pour you coffee.”

At this point in our narrative about David Hornik, it should come as no surprise that the next morning he wore his pajamas to work (arriving via the subway).  However, he explains, only when he arrived at work for a morning training did it strike him that the other partners in the firm were unaware of the conversation in which he accepted the dare – so it was risky:

When relaying this story, Hornik quickly adds this caveat and piece of advice: “Make good choices around the risks you choose to take.  If the dare had been around dropping my pants, it is safe to say I wouldn’t have taken it.”

As is evident, Hornik doesn’t shy away from taking risks with his humor.  Neither is he shy about publicly poking fun at himself.  He has found that self-deprecating humor is powerful and effective.  Why?  People like humility in others and they relax when you make jokes at your own expense:

He emphasizes that the focus should be on the “self” part of “self-deprecating;” jokes should never be made at the expense of someone else in the room:

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¹ If you were born after 1970, Tattoo is the very short character who announces “the plane, the plane!” when visitors arrive on Fantasy Island.

Up Next: Life (and Work) is Hard: Humor as a Survival Strategy