Corrections_Today_May_June_2019

Annual Luncheon

hang out with them, but to make them leaders in the organization. In the example of the nurse in the hospital, he noticed that people did what the nurse asked them to do, simply because she made them, and Rader himself, laugh. Another point of advice that he gave to the crowd was to take time every week to enjoy things that make you laugh. He then discussed how that advice helped him and his wife when raising their children; each week they would watch old HBO stand-up comedy specials. He then talked about the latest technology, which, as he noted in the beginning of his routine, is when “you no longer understand the technology your generation in- vented.” He then gave the examples of his phone giving him the route to McDonald’s as his “job,” since he goes there for breakfast every morning, and the struggles he has with autocorrect. Rader then recalled a funny conversation with his grand- son, where he was asked what kind of games his grandfather had on his phone when he was a kid, to which Rader responded that growing up he had a phone connected to a wall that you could only make calls with, rather than a smart phone. In closing, Rader reminded the crowd to take time every week to enjoy things that make you laugh, and it was clear as the Winter Conference was coming to a close, that everyone who attended the luncheon received their laughs for the week.

creative problem-solving skills that we all pos- sess. But maybe the most important finding is that it helps you prolong your career.” Rader paired a study done on nurses that showed that they stayed in their profession longer when they found the humorous side to things and were encouraged to laugh with a personal story of an unfortunate hospital incident that he found himself in, and how the nurse who helped tend to his wound made a very stressful situation better because of her sense of humor. He noted that “Humor is the one thing that we can bring to our work that doesn’t cost us a thing, but has tremendous benefits.”

It is well documented that humor not only helps us reduce our stress, and improve our health, it helps organizations build collaboration.

Rader then talked about people in the work- place who have a natural ability to make others laugh, and he encouraged the crowd to not only 2019 Winter Conference

— Robert Breckenridge II

52 — May/June 2019 Corrections Today