[music]. Let's start with a little exercise. So if your last name begins with A through E, could you I just want you to visualize a sheep. F through K, visualize a pig. L through R, a cow. And S through Z, I want you to be thinking about a horse. Because I want to think, what are you thinking about? >> Horse. >> Okay, I want you to stand up. I need you to look at your colleague, see them face-to-face. Think about your animal. [laugh]. Make eye contact. >> Eye contact. >> Eye contact. Okay, now I need you to make the sound of your animal as loud as you can for 30 seconds. Make the sound of your animal. Go. [laugh]. ... >> What do you think? [crosstalk]. >> Is that fun? Yeah? >> [crosstalk] Yeah, that was fun. [inaudible] Is it fun, Taylor? >> Yes, well, so Ben and I were discussing [inaudible]. I thought it was oink, but Ben? >> What? [laugh]. [crosstalk]. >> It's more like a breathing. >> [laugh] Like what? Just give me, it's like, what sound did you make? [laugh]. >> It's just a voice. >> Are you an expert on this? >> [laugh] Yeah. >> [inaudible] Okay. So that's fun, right? [laugh] want to go outside and do it? >> Sure. >> Yeah. Why not. Okay. What's, what's about, fun about it?. So why are we laughing first of all? That's good question, why do we laugh when we do something like this? It's awkward. Yeah, we usually, when things are awkward, we don't laugh. [crosstalk] [laugh]. They're really awkward yeah, yes? >> I was laughing because the, the horse somebody made was like [unknown]. [laugh]. >Okay, the horse sound he was making was so ridiculous, you had to laugh. What was your sound? >> Cow. >> Was it better? >> No. [laugh]. >> Yeah. >> But, but he was laughing. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, okay. Well, we laugh because there's a, because, it's when there's a little physical tension. Physiologically, the tension builds up because it's is so awkward, this is so weird. You're totally not used to doing this that your body has released that. We will release that through laughing and that, and so that's really a, I mean it's really, really a strong force. A strong like you can call it sort of an emotional force that's acting on us to cause us to hesitate. We don't want to do it outside because we'd feel weird. Now, if I brought in a classroom of kindergartners and said, okay, everyone grab a kid and start making your sound, there's no problem. Right? For some reason it's not about the thing that we're doing, it's about the context within which we're doing it. That's the, the thing we to remember, it's about the people I guess it's really, really about the, the, the setting more than it is about the actual thing that you're doing in that way. And so, I like this one because it is this is what I call the animal farm is my equivalent of faculty meeting where. Whenever there is a faculty meeting, I always swear in my office, like say I'm there like I say [unknown] going to a faculty meeting, I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I'm not going to say a word. Because I know if I say something, you know, I don't know. So when I go in there, and I sit in the back of the room, and I'm watching, and all this ridiculous stuff is going on. And then finally, I just actually can't take anymore, and I, I try to stop myself, and I'd say, moo, moo. [laugh]. And everyone looks on, hey, did Owen just moo? [laugh]. [inaudible] What's wrong with that guy? Now, I feel like my hair itches a little bit and I feel like it is again. And I have to go and I swear I'll never do it again . And then there's just this kind of, and probably no one is thinking that, probably everyone is thinking about, you know, I'm thinking about myself. Am I looking ridiculous? Not about what their impression are. So we all are going through this and we're all sort of self-monitoring this really hi thing, but it really does not affect the people around us. And that's the thing, that, that sort of thing that the animal sound is the problem when you're in a team or in group, and you want to put an idea out there, but you're not really sure if it's going to come out like a moo or is it going to come out of something coherent. And often, we, we see people who don't want to speak up in class, for the same reason, you're not really sure if what you're saying is intelligent or not intelligent. This feels awkward, you're not really sure. And so the job of manager of the team doing this is really to make it safe.to make sure that everyone in their field, they can make their mooing sounds, so they can put out brilliant ideas and both are equally valid to happen there.
