After 25 years in pharma, have I lost my sense of humor?

It’s a strange question, but one I’ve been reflecting on a lot since leaving Addison Whitney earlier this month.

In our industry, caution is currency. We’re trained to be vigilant, compliant, precise, serious. And rightfully so. People’s lives are at the heart of everything we do. And it is our job to stay in touch with the emotions and motivations of human beings. But somewhere along the way, I stopped using one of the most human tools in my creative toolkit.  Humor.

Not the kind that makes light of illness or suffering. But the kind that gives people a moment of emotional release. A way to breathe, to feel seen, to feel normal in the midst of something hard. A lever. A pressure valve. 

What’s wild is that it works. And it’s worked beautifully in some of the most unexpected places. Remember the Rozerem Dreams campaign in 2007, with Abe Lincoln and the beaver? Or more recently, when Zocdoc embraced the absurdity of booking doctor’s appointments, turning patient frustration into laugh-out-loud truth. Humor is human. 

Sure, there are behavioral science models that can reassure us. Like the Benign Violation Theory, Relief Theory, or any of the fancy frameworks that explain why humor works to relate to people under stress. But maybe we don’t need a white paper to tell us what we already know.

People need a break.

They need to feel seen.

They need to laugh, especially when life gets heavy.

So maybe the better question to ask myself is this:

What if I stopped fearing humor and started using it wisely?

Maybe this new chapter is my chance to rediscover a creative skill I’d nearly set aside. To use humor not as a punchline, but as a pressure valve. A bridge. 

A human moment. 

Here’s to finding the balance between gravity and levity.

Here’s to a little more laughter in the lab.

Here’s to the comeback tour of humor. For healthcare, and for me.

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