Funny, sad and scary

Three writers - Al, Ben and Carl — were attending a writing convention. They booked a three-bedroom suite on the 75th floor of a hotel.

- FRANCIS J. KONG

When they returned from the convention, the receptionist said, “I’m terribly sorry, but all the elevators are broken. In the meantime, you will have to take the stairs.”

Now, Al was a writer of funny stories, Ben was a writer of scary stories and Carl was a writer of sad stories. The three of them agreed that, to make it less boring, Al would tell the other two his funniest stories while they climbed from floors 1 to 25, Ben would tell his scariest stories from floors 26 to 50, and Carl would tell his saddest stories from floors 51 to 75.

They started to climb the stairs, and Al began to tell funny stories. By the time they reached the 25th floor, Ben and Carl were laughing hysterically. Then Ben started to tell scary stories. By the time they reached the 50th floor, Al and Carl were hugging each other in fear.

Then Carl started to tell sad stories. “I'll tell my saddest story of all first,” he said. “There was once a man named Carl who left the hotel room key in the car...”

Do you know who can be all three - sad, funny and scary?

A manager who doesn’t know they are.

Here is why.

Many managers inadvertently scare people. Tone, pace and language create a climate where people nod, ship safe work and save their best ideas for safer rooms.

A majority of employees feel too intimidated to bring issues to their manager — and it’s not a good thing.