Do Something Irreverent & Funny

What Bill Veeck’s Wooden Leg Taught Me about Trust

by Mike Veeck

My dad used to love to sit on the porch and impress the neighborhood kids. One of his favorite party tricks was to hammer a nail into his leg just below the knee. The kids had no idea it was a wooden leg. As he pounded the last quarter inch of sharp steel through his pants, he’d smile at the kids and say, “Now go home, and ask your dad if he can do this.”

People don’t expect you to mess with them. Do something irreverent and funny, with a straight face, and watch people wake up and take notice.

Bill Veeck always said, “Buy the worst ball club you can find.” Think about that. When the only way is up, you can either be a hero, or laugh about your failures. Either way wins you a lot of friends.

Lessons From Another Boring, Derivative, Piece of Crap Business Book by Mike Veeck & Allen Fahden

Give up doing this: Try to not take all this too seriously. One of the worst enemies of our creativity is the need to be literal.

Do this instead: See the humor in everything. If my Dad could laugh about the leg he lost in a war, believe me, there is humor in anything.

The mind can only hold one thought at a time. Make it one that supports you. Find the humor and your whole world transforms.