Stand-up on the job: What Jerry Seinfeld can teach you about work

Bill, Robin and Jerry.

If you want to get ahead at work, Jerry Seinfeld is probably a better role model than some corporate titan.

“If business people had the same pressure as comedians, I think they would be better at their jobs," says Ron Tite, a creative director at a Toronto advertising agency and a stand-up comic. Indeed, there are few other professions in which success or failure is so immediate and irrefutable – people either laugh or they don't.

For nearly half a decade, Mr. Tite, 39, has delivered an address called “Everyone's a comedian (or at least they should be)" to dozens of companies, including Kraft Canada, American Express, KPMG and Magna International.

Don't start lacing up your clown shoes just yet, however. “It's not about being funny," Mr. Tite says. Instead, success at the office – whether it's giving memorable presentations or wooing clients – is about understanding the rules of stand-up comedy and putting them to work.

Know your audience

In comedy: Whether or not a joke is funny depends on who's listening. Mr. Tite, for example, once watched a fellow comedian do a set about “every possible physical and mental disability" that had crowds at comedy clubs in Toronto rolling in the aisles. A few nights later, the same set bombed at Queen's University. Turns out, almost everyone in the audience had that day volunteered for the Winter Adapted Games for the physically challenged.

At work: Are you making a presentation to your subordinates or your global CEO? Do the clients you're looking to make inroads with work in an easy-going culture, or is it all business all the time? Figure out who you're dealing with and you'll be better able to meet their needs.

Know your setting

In comedy: “There are 1,000 different variables that can lead to a successful performance or a not-so-successful performance," says Mr. Tite, who works at Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG. A gig can quickly go south depending on who's introducing you, or if you're on between two bands, for example.

At work: “In the business world, not enough people think beyond the idea," he says. “Once you've got some creative ideas, then you have to look at all the other variables. When are they being presented? Who are they being presented to? What room are they being presented in? Where is the decision-maker sitting in that room? You have to align as many variables in your favour as possible."



Never ignore reality

In comedy: “If I tell a joke and a punchline completely bombs, I have to acknowledge that I just told a joke that no one laughed at," Mr. Tite says.

At work: Always admit your failures or shortcomings. People will respect that much more than deception. Honesty will also give you a better chance of winning them over. “How you react to risk or failure can actually be more creative and more memorable" than if you had succeeded in the first place, Mr. Tite says.

Deal with hecklers

In comedy:

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