When Leslie Blodgett was CEO of the cosmetics company Bare Escentuals, she started meetings in a decidedly non-traditional way: kicking off her shoes with glee. Why? Because, she says, “bare feet are funny.”   Her next step was to jumpstart the meeting with a quick verbal or physical game to replace the standard, but boringly expected, “Hi. How are you?”  Oh, and at some point the meeting might break into a spontaneous dance party.  And no meeting was too large for getting into the groove; Bare’s all-hands meetings would start with a rocking song and dance, with Blodgett in the lead and employees following suit.  And still today, don’t be surprised if you visit Bare’s headquarters and hear a strange sound for an office setting: laughter bouncing off the walls.

Surely, you might argue, this working style will impede, rather than promote, productivity.  Blodgett would argue back that making humor and levity a cornerstone of Bare Escentuals' culture was instrumental in her company’s inspiring growth story.  

And lest you get the wrong idea: Blodgett has always taken her work very seriously, which helped her build Bare Escentuals up from a local beauty shop in San Francisco to a beauty empire (as a profile of her in Glamour magazine called it),1 and then sell it to Shiseido for $1.7 billion.  Indeed, a New York Times article titled, “Move Over, Estee Lauder,” noted that Blodgett has been compared to the industry-revolutionizing Max Factor because Blodgett has “revolutionized the way millions of women – particularly those under 40 – think about makeup.”2 One of Blodgett’s biggest achievements was creating and launching bareMinerals, the industry-transforming makeup product-line.

Through all of her successes (as well as her challenging moments), Blodgett has found that humor is a necessity in today’s workplace, where stress, anxiety, and disconnection come at us at every turn.  Further, she adds, humor makes work much more satisfying, motivates her teams to work harder, and increases people’s chances of sticking around.

So how do you create that culture of humor and levity?   

Blodgett wanted to make sure we know this about her: “It’s important to note that I am not a funny or witty person; I just believe in the power of humor.”  But an unscientific poll of people that know her and have worked with her would reveal that she exudes fun and funny. One way she does that is through stories.

We all have signature stories that we tell over and over because they score every time. (Yes, you have one too, you just may not have identified it yet.)  Blodgett’s signature story is about her introduction to the TV shopping channel QVC.  It involves unusual sleepwear and orthodontics.

She went on to spend 17 successful years selling Bare products on QVC, which played a pivotal role in the company’s growth, especially in the early days when money was tight and traditional advertising was not a real option.

Of course, not every story that is meant to be humorous goes well.  Let’s just say that the story Blodgett told at an all-hands meeting where she compared Bare’s unconventional distribution strategy to pandas mating (the male stomps on the female while she plays dead) didn’t land.

Blodgett also has humor heroes, which include Barack Obama. “In many ways he had the most stressful job, and yet he could pull out the laughs with his flawless timing and a straight face.”  She also admires Ellen DeGeneres. “She may smile at her own jokes but she is professional, self-deprecating and relevant. All things I aim to be.”

Up Next: Humor as an Invitation