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Show Sunday, February JO, 2008 DAILY Humor is not just funny business late Norman Cousins, magazine editor author, came down at midlife with what doctors believed was an incurable illness. Cousins studied the illness on his own and, in the process, proved to himself and others that laughter contributes to healing. This is because of the flow of endorphins from the adrenaline system every time you laugh or feel good. To keep the endorphins flowing, Cousins watched every Marx Brothers movie he could. And did everything he could to maintain a positive frame of mind. It worked. Cured miraculously, Cousins spent the last part of his life as a lecturer at the UCLA School of Medicine, working with medical students. He told students there that "the control center of your life is your attitude. Negative attitudes lead to illness, low and depression. Positive attitudes lead to hope, love, caring, fun and endorphin flow from the adrenaline system." Cousins proved that a big dose of positive thinking and laughter on a daily basis could contribute as much to your continued health and as a basket full of pills. " Laughter and humor are not only good for people but they are healthy for companies. That's why February is National Laugh Friendly month. I've always thought that kidding around at work is a good thing, which is why I've encouraged it for years g at our company. We don't start a sales meeting without a good, tasteful joke. Last fall, I saw the results of a study done by a Universit' Missoun-UHumbi- a researchei who examined how humor affects the working environ-men- XanGo recognize the difference between humor that's affectionate and humor that's a dig. Every organization, every team, every group has malcontents and naysayers who drag down esprit de corps. It's a good idea, especially in business, to eliminate such people. Their The negativity ultimately infects others and hurts morale, and, as a corollary, productivity. Good managers monitor humor. You can learn plenty about your employees through company skits, cartoons posted on bulletin boards, jokes circulated via caustic remarks made in meetings and nicknames assigned to managers. You have only to look at classic movies like "Mister Roberts" or "The Caine Mutiny" to see what devastating effects a bad boss can have on morale. Harvey Mackay Positive Struggles workplace. Occasional humor among colleagues, he said, enhances creativity, department cohesiveness and overall performance. "Humor is pretty important," said Robert. "It's not just clowning around and having fun. It has meaningful impact on cohesiveness in the workplace and communication quality among workers. The ability to appreciate humor, the ability to laugh and make other people laugh actually has physiological effects on the body that cause people to become more bonded." I remember seeing a short article in the Harvard Business Review a few years ago that confirmed a belief I've held for years. I've always felt that humor is the unrecognized indicator of any business' true condition. The magazine pointed out how humor was the great, hidden metric for measuring a company's healthiness or lack thereof. It's seldom recognized or thought of when analyzing businesses. In life in general, jokes are used to relieve anxiety, to mask hostility, to defuse po- ennally incendiary situations and to expose truths that make people uneasy. That's why political jokes are a staple of comedy shows and stand-u- p comic routines. That's why the powerful are often lampooned in variety show sketches and in newspaper editorial cartoons. Everyone knows and can Managers who are remote never learn this lesson. They ignore company humor. They fail to circulate. They never walk through the plant, factory or office. When they shun close contact with employees, even those in the most basic positions, they cut themselves off from real knowledge: how the enterprise is doing in the hearts and minds of its most important constituents the people working for it. - When you really get right down to it, fostering positive company wide humor should be part of management's responsibility. Good managers pay attention to what their employees are Saying, doing and feeling. A good sense of humor never hurts anyone. tend to be higher than those associated with a traditional Continued from C10 mortgage. Bell says the exact figures vary by product, but live in it some day, have a distypically average 5 percent of cussion to make sure that's the the home's value. case. If it's not, consider down"When they sell, what they owe is the sum of the funds sizing to something smaller and more manageable. that have been advanced, the fees that were associated with I The alternatives. As I menthe loan, and any interest that tioned, you might consider was accrued on it. But that's moving into a smaller, less expensive home or cutting capped by the value of the back on your expenses. But if house," explains Bell. If the amount owed is more than the you've made all possible cuts to your budget and still need value of the house, the lender some extra income, do some eats the difference. If it's less, research into benefit programs you (or your heirs) keep the you may be eligible for, either change. from your state, the federal I The lender. There aren't a ton of banks out there offering government or your formal reverse mortgages, but you employer. You can also look into a home equity loan or line still need to make sure you of credit, depending on if you work with a reputable one. need the lump sum or just want First thing to know? By law to have some money available you're required to seek indein case of an emergency. The pendent counseling before you one silver lining of the probsign on the dotted line. Your able recession is lower inter- bank should give you a list of est rates. HELOCs are more counselors in your area who attractive today than they've ; can help you sort through the been in two and a half years. nitty gritty and determine if the lender I The fees and interest rate. and this product is right for you. These mortgages are paid back If you decide to seal the deal, when the home is sold, typicalstick to what you came for. ly as a result of the borrower Lenders may try to layer on moving or passing away. The other products, like long-terfees, also paid at that time, care insurance or annuities, that you just don't need. The presence of this practice was among the findings of the AARP survey, says Rother. " "With any mortgage you'll be pitched a home warranty, home repair services, maybe health insurance or financial accounts. Some are quite legitimate and others are not." As a consumer, it can be hard to make the distinction, which is why a third party counseling service is so important. self-estee- well-bein- g envelope-manufacturin- t. Chris Robert, assistant fessor of management in proMLPs late-nig- College of Business, said that humor particularly joking around about things associated with the job actually has a positive impact in the -- C9 HERALD -- ; XanGo is that the business has gone a long way without showing any benefit in human Continued from CIO trials," said Wayne Askew, director of the Division of Nutriworth of noni juice, from the French Polynesia fruit, in its tion of the University of Utah's first 10 years by 2006. College of Health also of Utah, bottles a Others are skeptical, too, blend of acai juice from the "It's a 'Wizard of Oz' story," said Anthony Almada, presiAmazon basin berry. Pure Fruit Technologies Inc. dent and chief executive of d XanGo on a GENr8 Inc., a marketer of juice that sells in sports nutrition dietary supplehealth food stores. ments. "The industry is built on XanGo, a private company storytelling, and because they do it that doesn't reveal financial without adstatements, said at the October vertising, they don't incur the convention that since its launch wrath of the FDA." five years ago, sales of the Dietary supplements are a mangosteen-basejuice topped $22 billion largely unregulated a cumulative $1 billion It ships business in the U.S. For the lab test, The Associout bottles by the case from ated Press shipped a Spanish Fork, and says it has bottle of XanGo to Or700,000 unsalaried sales associates in 17 countries, egon State University's Linus "That's the only product Pauling Institute at Corvallis. The institute measured its antithey sell, and people are takoxidant strength against ing it around the world," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, juices that sell for a few dollars a bottle. who quaffs the purplish-colo- r On a scale of molecular XanGo and pops multivitamins and other supplements every weight, XanGo's antioxidants measured 14,884 "micromoles" day. Hatch was the prime sponsor of the 1994 Dietary per liter slightly higher than Supplement Health and Educacranberry juice, but lower than tion Act, which allows the sale black cherry and less than half of supplements unless the Food the power of blueberry juice; and Drug Administration can Apple juice finished last in this test. prove them harmful. "In terms of its ant ioxidant An independent lab test performed for The Associated capacity, XanGo is in the Press shows XanGo's antioxi- middle of the pack," said Balz dant strength is no better than Frei, the institute's director and chairman. other readily available fruit Antioxidants are substances juices, yet it costs nearly $40 a bottle. XanGo insists mango-stee- n added to many foods and even contains other beneficial soap in the belief they can slow chemicals. down the damage oxidation can do to cells. "My big concern with -- mango-steen-base- d store-boug- " . n d : three-quarte- Mackay's Moral: Humor in business is no joke. I Harvey Mackay is the author of The New York Times's No. 1 best-sell"Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive.'' He can be reached through his Web site, www. harveymackay.com, by harveymackay.com or by writing him at Mackay Mitchell Envelope Co., 2100 Elm St. SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414. '- Chatzky Frei and other scientists emphasize that antioxidants havent been shown to actually work inside the human body. Antioxidants are known to work in test tubes, but stomach acids could neutralize them before they can get to work destroying any radicals. Uncertainties over testing protocols have stalled research, yet every day seems to bring another mangosteen bottler, as an Internet search will show. XanGo's research and development manager insists mangosteen has more to offer than its oxygen radia cal absorption capacity rich cocktail of other beneficial chemicals barely known to science. "You have a fruit that's very complicated, with a lot of chemicals in it," said Mike Pugh, who dismissed antioxidant ratings as a "numbers game." He said the type of antioxidants can be more important. Pugh believes all the scien- tif ic debate can be pointless: If mangosteen makes people feel better, he said, it must do some good. "It helps with my severe allergies," said Tim Gardner of " Hammond, Wis., a district manager for a chain of auto parts stores who drove nonstop with his wife and two other couples to Salt Lake City for the XanGo convention. 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