Using Humor to Find the Success in Uncertainty

With Special Guest: Joel Zeff, Work Culture Expert, Keynote Speaker & Author

Uncertainty is serious business. But the leaders who navigate it best may have one thing in common: they never stopped having fun.

In this episode, Meridith sits down with Joel Zeff — work culture expert, improv performer, and author of Make the Right Choice — to make the case that laughter is not a soft skill. It is a competitive advantage hiding in plain sight.

Joel has spent 25-plus years turning corporate audiences into improv performers and proving that the same instincts that make a great improv scene — listening, adapting, supporting your team, saying yes — are exactly the instincts that make a great leader.

What you will take away from this conversation:

• Why improv is not just entertainment — it is one of the most powerful leadership development tools available
• How fun drives engagement, passion, and performance in ways that money simply cannot replicate
• The one question every leader should be asking their team — and almost never does
• Why the ability to embrace change is a choice, and how to start making that choice consistently
• How creating psychological safety for mistakes unlocks creativity, risk-taking, and results

Whether your team is burned out, playing it safe, or just going through the motions, this episode is the permission slip to lead differently — and the roadmap to make it stick.

Special offer from Joel: Mention Ask for Change when you connect with him and receive a free chapter from his new book on change.

Connect with Joel Zeff: joelzeff.com | LinkedIn: Joel Zeff