Wit + Wisdom | Sept. 8

Way, way, way too cool for school

As cool kids, we know that BTS is the best K-pop band of all time. But to you mere mortals, you probably think of BTS as “back to school.” Which is fine, because we can all celebrate together now that (finally!) summer is over and someone else gets to deal with our kiddos for six hours a day. (Good luck!) This bittersweet season for parents also ushers in some of the best marketing campaigns of the year. The fine folks at Outbrain have assembled a fab list of the best BTS spots. Lo and behold, most of them make liberal use of humor to stand out from a very crowded crowd. Although we have to clap back at Outbrain’s choice for the worst commercial of all time. This is legit the best thing we’ve ever seen.

Are you an oxygen giver or an oxygen taker?

We don’t know about you, but we lurv famous quotes. We print out a new one every morning and tape it to our laptop to keep us vibing all day long. Today’s piece of wisdom comes from Kevin Hart: “It’s a well-known fact that tall people are evil.” That explains a lot, actually. But the best news is we found our new one for tomorrow from Rupen Desai, cofounder of The Shed 28: “I’ve come to measure people on: Do they give me oxygen, or do they take away oxygen from me?” This spicy nugget (and many others) can be found in a kewl excerpt from the new book, The ROI of LOL, written by our very own CEO Steve Cody and Clayton Fletcher. Steve and Clayton are all about using the tenants of humor at work to become an oxygen giver, not an oxygen taker! It’s not only great for your career, but much cheaper than paying for your co-worker’s Starbucks run.

Remember to put on your “perspectacles”

We <3 Julie Gaines. Not only is she the owner of Fishs Eddy, our fave source for quirky dinnerware and homegoods (it’s named after a small town in upstate New York), she’s also funny as H-E-double hockey sticks. She’s made a stellar career out of entrepreneurship and comedy and, as this new feature story explains, is now leaning on humor to help her deal with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. She’s truly an inspiration to us. So, hopefully the next time you’re having a bad day because your fur baby ate your favorite Croc or you lost the lid to your Yeti tumbler, you’ll remember Julie’s story and gain some much-needed perspective.